View Full Version : Midge Machine
Hi all,
as the midge season is well under way I was wondering if there is a company or even a private person, who will hire out a machine.
Or is there a company that sells them in Caithness?
We have one, but were told to clear an area it has to be on all the time for a couple of months. We got ours second hand from Dingwall.
Tighsonas4
09-Jun-09, 12:54
only thing that will clear midges is an incinerator [lol] tony
I don't fancy burning down the whole of Shurrery estate.... might get into trouble slightly...
A few midge machines should make a dent into the population over the years...
A few midge machines should make a dent into the population over the years...
Hahaha - I very much doubt it.....
I purely meant a dent in the population around my own property. As midges don't really fly any further than 100m, unless blown about by the wind, killing thousands of females each week will have to have an impact on the overall population.
Last year I had a few days where I literally couldn't see because of the midges around my head.
Midges don't have a natural predator, so we have to do something to keep the population at bay, as the weather isn't doing anything to help us.
Germany had -26°C last winter and when I was at my sisters garden couple of weeks a go there wasn't any insects about. It was scorching hot and not a single creepy crawly in sight. Usually they have plenty of them, mostly of the biting mosquito variety.
Shame Caithness doesn't have temperatures like that once in a while. That would help with the midges...
Having some skin allergies I have tried most of the midge repellents I know of, including Avon Skin So Soft, but it makes me itch after a few hours. It's tolerable but not ideal to wear it all through the midge season.
Anybody tried those midge patches?
Good luck on your Midge cull.
As someone who suffered the results of being seriously chewed up by these monsters in a micro package as a child (ahhh, Loch Maree...) you have my sympathy - I only have to step outside and they descend on me like some sort of living tornado!!!
Sure I read something somewhere about some sort of tablets you get that apparently keep them away. :confused
Sure I read something somewhere about some sort of tablets you get that apparently keep them away. :confused
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) is supposed to work. Not tried it yet, but will do next week when I'm back in Caithness. Not sure if you can get Vitamin B1 only in tablet form. They are usually mixed with B2 and B6 and/or B12 which you supposedly shouldn't take too much of. However B1 is safe to take in larger amounts over a long period of time.
There are midge patches which add 75mg of Thiamine to your blood over 24 - 36 hours. Apparently the midges keep away then. I've ordered some to test them. I sure hope they work, otherwise I'll propably end up at A&E...
For one person they are cheaper a day than running a midge machine, but I still want a few....
Anybody selling theirs ?
I purely meant a dent in the population around my own property. As midges don't really fly any further than 100m, unless blown about by the wind, killing thousands of females each week will have to have an impact on the overall population.
Last year I had a few days where I literally couldn't see because of the midges around my head.
Midges don't have a natural predator, so we have to do something to keep the population at bay, as the weather isn't doing anything to help us.
Germany had -26°C last winter and when I was at my sisters garden couple of weeks a go there wasn't any insects about. It was scorching hot and not a single creepy crawly in sight. Usually they have plenty of them, mostly of the biting mosquito variety.
Shame Caithness doesn't have temperatures like that once in a while. That would help with the midges...
Having some skin allergies I have tried most of the midge repellents I know of, including Avon Skin So Soft, but it makes me itch after a few hours. It's tolerable but not ideal to wear it all through the midge season.
Anybody tried those midge patches?How dare you come to Scotland with the intention of massacaring millions of our beasties.
coppertop 1958
09-Jun-09, 15:53
"Culicodes impucantus" to give the midge insect its proper title,
Did You Know?
- Midges!
In the summer time, visitors and residents in the country areas in the west of Scotland are often pestered by the clouds of midges which fly around in their thousands, attacking humans and animals alike and leaving behind an itchy bite.
More than one tourist has remarked that you can "kill one of the blighters and several hundred turn up for the funeral." It is unfortunate that the ten weeks of their breeding season coincides with the main tourist season!
"Culicodes impucantus" to give the midge insect its proper title, prefers areas where there is a good annual rainfall - so the West of Scotland is its favourite haunt as many places there have over 50 inches of rain a year (Lochaber had 220 inches in 1990!).
It is only the female midge which bites, having first detected its prey from the carbon dioxide which they produce.
The insect scrapes the skin, then inserts a hollow hypodermic-style needle under the skin to draw blood - a nourishing meal for the midge prior to laying its eggs.
Over the centuries, many remedies have been formulated to deter the little blighters and the consumer magazine "Which" has even run tests on brands of insect repellents. But the US army has found that a cosmetic product "O So Soft" works wonders!
And smoke is also a good deterrent - Queen Victoria is reputed to have smoked cigarettes on her Highland jaunts for that reason!
A system has now been developed by Advanced Pest Solutions, based at Edinburgh University, which collects known densities of midge populations in various locations and combines that with weather forecasts to predict the worst affected places - similar to the pollen index of hay-fever sufferers. The forecast is refined by midge catch data provided by a network of traps at weather stations located from Shetland to the Borders. The forecast is being reported each day in the Aberdeen-based Press and Journal newspaper and is available online at www.midgeforecast.co.uk.
That midge forecast might work for Thurso but certainly not for Shurrery!
I've seen Level 1 amounts in the first week of May inside one of my ruins, haven't been back since mid May but my neighbours tell me midges are back in high numbers!
I have a midgeater machine and they work very well. However, I haven't used mine for the last 2 summers because I saw them as a luxurious excess and I found that I could keep them away from just having a chiminea burning garden twigs when I'm out in the garden. That seems a lot better than burning fossil fuel 24/7 for 3-4 months. That is more than £80 per year for patio gas.
Midgeater for sale £200. (£650 new):D
We got a midge machine but i just can't get it n the right place.
There is an avon body spray which keeps them away. cant remeber the name, its in a greenish blue container. hugo ross fishing tackle shop in wick sells it. It really does work.
How dare you come to Scotland with the intention of massacaring millions of our beasties.
Must agree with you there! If you don't like them stay away.
piratelassie
10-Jun-09, 01:19
Just bought (The Stopper Midge Head Net).It arrived today but havent had time to try it out. It does restrict vision slightly and looks a bit silly but no bothered boot that as long as it works. There are few different types on the internet.
Just bought (The Stopper Midge Head Net).It arrived today but havent had time to try it out. It does restrict vision slightly and looks a bit silly but no bothered boot that as long as it works. There are few different types on the internet.
You can buy them from the fishing shop in thurso
Alice in Blunderland
10-Jun-09, 08:07
Just back in from the garden and boy are the midges out in force just now.
Im eaten alive and now covered in little blotches ah well the joys of Caithness. :D
We got a midge machine but i just can't get it n the right place.
You have to change the position depending on wind direction. Make sure the wind blows the midges towards your machine.
There is an avon body spray which keeps them away. cant remeber the name, its in a greenish blue container. hugo ross fishing tackle shop in wick sells it. It really does work.
It's called Skin So Soft. It really does work. Shame it makes me itch.
Must agree with you there! If you don't like them stay away.
Yeah, right.
Just bought (The Stopper Midge Head Net).It arrived today but havent had time to try it out. It does restrict vision slightly and looks a bit silly but no bothered boot that as long as it works. There are few different types on the internet.
I've got a few of those, they are great when there is no wind at all and you practically eat those things by the hundreds the minute you want to talk (= open mouth). Don't help with them things attacking your hands or creeping up your trouser legs... and they are uncomfortable to wear at night !
Just back in from the garden and boy are the midges out in force just now.
Im eaten alive and now covered in little blotches ah well the joys of Caithness. :D
I wish I could just grin and bear it, but those bites turn into penny size blotches that itch like hell for a week. I was given Pyriton to help with the itching and that made me feel drousy and I didn't feel safe to drive.
Our kids just come home with loads of red marks, like somebody dabbed them with a red felt tip. Few hours later it's all gone. They don't even itch for a single second...
Ah memories! During one of our training hikes for our Duke Of Edinburgh award, my friend had to go to work (she could not get out of it) we were the only girls out of 10 or so boys, and none of them would help me put up my tent! I did it eventually by myself, but wrong and millions of midges got in. My friend and I had to sleep with towels on our head that night.
tonkatojo
10-Jun-09, 15:02
A while back (years) the forestry commission in Kielder forrest Northumberland used an industrial one to try and keep the camp site's clear of the damned midge it used a carbon dioxide bottle to attract them and it was like a great big hoover type machine that sucked them into a bag. It was on the telly I saw it being used, a news broadcast I think, they were tipping large sackfull's every day, don't know if it made much difference tho'.
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