Mosquitoes

[Emma S]

How to get rid of the buggers?
we have a moat (I suspect therein lies the problem) and a small pond which dries out in summer.
I am past the repellant stage and moving towards anihilation. BUT father in law has a pheasant run which encloses the moat, so any chemicals need to be bird friendly.
The moat has no fish, and as its a scheduled monument we would probably not be allowed to put fish in. Besides its a bit dodgy looking so might well kill them anyway. It was overgrown and we took all bankside trees away last year, so there is no new leaf fall into the moat, and its got sunlight (well, not at the moment.....)
so, what do I use? Fumigation/gas/pellets something in the water???? any deterant on the platforms of the campsite yurts/domes in the wood??
any advice would be fantastic

 

[ged]

You aren't sounding like a great lover of nature. Are you sure you're in the right place? I don't think large-scale destruction by chemical methods is going to win much support.

Fish will certainly reduce the larvae population, but they won't get rid of them altogether. You might not be able to put fish in, but fish do tend to appear in most bodies of water of their own volition. Birds bring them. Honest.

Bats and swallows will take a reasonable toll, perhaps you can encourage them. They do, however. like most of Mother Nature's creatures, cr@p everywhere. Maybe you won't like that either.

I've seen some pretty impressive insect-o-cutor type things around the Mediterranean, that might be worth a try, but I'd worry about all kinds of collateral damage.

There are all kinds of smoky things you can burn which will help clear an area for an evening but they aren't 100%.

Maybe a big mosquito net on a frame?

 

[Toddy]

Newts

Seriously, they'll eat the larvae. Not as well as goldfish (carp) will though. Goldfish in a pond will hoover up most anything.

Could the moat not be turned into a kind of haven for displaced great crested's or suchlike ? Seems a shame all that water and it not being a viable habitat for anything but mozzies.

I'd love a moat, there's a burn that runs parallel to our back fence, I could have such fun with it if it were mine

cheers,
Toddy

 

[ged]

Newts

No shortage of them round here.

 

[Emma S]

No shortage of them round here.

package me up a few!!

Seriously, we are trying to make the moat something far more habitable and pleasant looking than it has been for a very very long time, hence the tree clearance to reduce all the leaf mould falling into the water and just creating a huge stagnant mess. If we were allowed we would dredge the most rotten stuff out and maybe down to the clay bottom and start again, putting in some decent reeds to filter the water
, and see what nature put in it. But with English Heritage being what it is, the very mention of doing anything gave them palpitations...you should see the paperwork I have had to do to even put up replacement fencing (it currently has a hideous jumble of falling over posts and 6 ft high rabbit netting) But at the moment it is a stagnant pool of algae and a mosquito haven. There really is not a fish in there. if you put a stick into the deeper bits it bubbles with noxious gasses. We want it nice, believe me. The rest of the farm is in the higher level stewardship - we have been planting new hedgerows, putting in bird seed plots, necar plots, re-seeding wildflower meadows, and building the campsite so that its all roundwood/greenwood coppiced from our woodland, compost toilets, the lot, so we ARE lovers of nature, but having come back from building footpaths today, even in the pouring rain, to find my left eye so swollen I cant see, and whopping great whelts all over my body, I am not the biggest fan of these biting things.

 

[spandit]

I'd be willing to bet there are already fish in the moat. All of the fish in my pond are black, mainly because a heron ate all the coloured ones - survival of the fittest and all that. They do arrive on birds legs, apparently (the eggs) but I fail to see why introducing native species to the moat would be a bad thing - weren't moats stocked for food originally?

One would hope an old building would have plenty of bats/swallows that should help with the numbers but a smoky fire will keep them at bay for an evening

 

[ged]

Newts

No shortage of them round here.

package me up a few!!

Sorry, it's illegal. But actually, I was thinking more of...

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu102/stokepa31/5d67ae77.jpg

 

[Toddy]

The mozzies will love that sump of a place, Emma Basically the only way you'll get rid of the organic mass of leaf debris is if the shrimp and woodlousey things get munching. You can change the ph with fish safe chemicals though........have a read through some of the garden pond forums maybe ? I know that growing the mini reedmace (Typhus minimus) in one pond and a bit of the big (bullrush, I know that's the 'wrong' name but we all recognise it) in the other, certainly seemed to help the insects along. They also give shelter for the newts and tadpoles from the birds.

Waterlillies ? you have to watch they don't take over though.

atb,
M

You have my sympathy; biting insects leave me miserable

 

[santaman2000]

Sadly the only way to get rid of them is DDT and it's only legel in countries with a high risk for malaria. Here the county does send out fogging trucks throughout the Summer but with a much less effective insecticide.

 

[Teepee]

By the sounds of it, the water will be pretty stagnant and deoxygenated.

Crucian carp will live where other carp species start to struggle and love rooting through silt, munching on Bloodworm. Great sport to fish for too