Midge Machine

[Tighsonas4]

only thing that will clear midges is an incinerator tony

[Stefan]

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...

[MadPict]

A few midge machines should make a dent into the population over the years...

Hahaha - I very much doubt it.....

[Stefan]

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?

[MadPict]

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!!!

[vanman]

Sure I read something somewhere about some sort of tablets you get that apparently keep them away.

[Stefan]

Sure I read something somewhere about some sort of tablets you get that apparently keep them away.

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 ?

[TBH]

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]

"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.

[Stefan]

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!

[Chillie]

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]

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.