Scottish midges - advice required please

[Ex Member - Sidney Bounty]

now is this problem only in the UK ?

 

[Deleted dude 7861]

http://www.midgeforecast.co.uk


Just have to hope for wind as midges hate winds!

 

[Tengu]

Well, Ive been bit a bit, but otherwise seem to be ok. (they like getting in my food though)

People think Im crazy when I sleep out on a dry night

I guess Im lucky

 

[jimford]

ISTRC reading that animals in Iceland can die from blood loss through countless midge bites!

Jim

 

[British Red]

In these conditions, repellents may stop 0.001 percent of them from biting you, but that still means you're getting bitten by thousands! Jim

No, actually if it stops one thousandth of one percent of them from biting you it means that 99.999% of them ARE biting you. In a cloud that large I venture to suggest that even water would be more effective - 99.999% of millions of midges would be extremely unlikely to all bite you.

Red

 

[gregorach]

I'm more than happy to avoid the repellants given the practical alternatives here.

Are the midges bad everywhere in Scoltand or worse in some areas and not as bad in others?

Is there a season for them? When do they usually start and when do they tail off and cease to be a problem?

They breed around boggy ground, and they like still, moist air and shade. However, it can be very hard to predict exactly where they will be bad - best bet is to ask the locals, they know!

now is this problem only in the UK ?

At least we don't have blackflies, and for some reason we don't seem to get mozzies in Scotland. Compared to the Canadian muskeg, or some parts of Scandinavia, we have it easy really.

 

[tobes01]

I'm normally SWMBO's mosquito repellent - by selflessly sleeping in the same bed as her, every mosquito within a mile comes for a feed on me and she wakes up fresh and unscathed. I used to live in Hong Kong and my record was 47 bites in a night, including 2 on a certain extremity. At least that gave me a reason to complain about localised swelling ;-)

Anyway, went to Greece last week and used (for the first time) a combination of Nordic Summer and vitamin B3 based on the recommendations above, and scored just two bites all week when there were other folks around the place covered in bites. The Nordic Summer was great although it smells very much like hoof oil, which for most people is a bit of a marmite thing - SWMBO hated the smell, I could live with it.

Anyway, many thanks for the advice, hopefully that's an end to my days as an insect magnet

 

[gregorach]

Is there a season for them? When do they usually start and when do they tail off and cease to be a problem?

Oh yeah, forgot to answer that bit... They usually fire up in earnest around May and tail off around October, although warm weather will bring them out outside that. About the only time you're really safe is during December and January. I guess that's partly why winter camping is so popular with some - although I find the meagre 6 hours of daylight rather off-putting.

 

[Sniper]

In general the east coast fares better than the west but there still there on both sides of the country. We were out last Tuesday and Wednesday at Loch Ken and they were most definately out at large. The best course is a net or the jacket, but a really good item is the mesh sided gazebo type thing with a small, smoky fire or a few citronella candles inside but the mesh sides need to be very fine, I think you can also buy citronella lamp oil for those garden oil lamps on the end of bamboo canes, I reckon they would work well in the confines of a mesh sided gazebo. The one shown by nonsuch looks like it does the job. I'm one of the lucky few who don't seem to get bitten by the little beggars but they really are very irritating. Afraid to say that's them now till Autumn and they'll get worse as the summer really comes in. I'm working this weekend but I'm free for the next couple of weekends so let me know when your coming, and where, and I'll meet up with you.

 

[gregorach]

Afraid to say that's them now till Autumn and they'll get worse as the summer really comes in.

Yeah, but at least they don't really like the hot, dry, sunny weather we've been having. If it keeps up like this, it might not be a bad year, midge-wise.

 

[Sniper]

That's true Dunc but the little b***ers come out when the sun goes down, that seemed to be the worst time last week, it was ok when it was hot but when the sun dipped there was hordes of the little blighters, just as you were settling down for a beer around the fire. :aargh4:

 

[Grooveski]

It's just your luck. I grew up and have spent plenty of time in midgie territory and the best advice I could give is don't forget a net.
I like the nets with the elastic armloops. They don't threaten to snag on trees or come adrift at the neck, work with long sleeved t-shirts. It's a confidence thing, I can put it on and forget it.
I don't like the nets with the kinda silnylon patch on the scullcap. It's waterproof which is a good thing but during the day it's way too warm.

If you're out buying a bunch of nets for the Tripitaka clan try before you buy, some of them mess with your vision.
I like lighter green ones. In the evening the darker nets cut off too much light for my liking.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Although each area can differ, since early May, I have seen and been bitten by, midges in shade sun and stinking hot heat.

Arisaig and the sands of Morar are midge free, few trees and just machair behind the coast.

But other areas can be unbelievable. Try sleeping out in Glen Etive or Skye in a windless day or night.

As others have said a bug jacket, Green Welly Stop Tyndrum has them for £12, is the answer. I think Silvergirl posted a pic of a gazebo with netting.
As a minimum if I'm walking or canoeing I have a flip up headnet that fits over my cotton boonie hat, so it's off my face.

Nick