I'm Scottish. We're used to midges. Normally they only bite English people. But this year, even in deepest darkest south Cheshire ( where I'm currently exiled to ) they are a nightmare ! We have a bit of the Shropshire Union canal running behind D'Bout Towers. Most nights, I take the hound for a stroll along the towpath ( decent boozer a bit along appropos of nothing really ) Well anyway, this year the midges along the waterside have been a complete plague.
Every night I collect more bites. Not just little red blisters but what eventually become suppurating wounds. I've tried everything, jungle spray, afterbite stuff, a course of anti-histamines but still the little sods attack.
Anyone else noticed this plague this year? Anyone got any remedy tips? ( other than not going out of course! )
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 21 Jul 12 at 20:02
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Brut firty free as recommended by our 'Enry.
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What, to spray them with?
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Apparently a good slathering of Avon "Skin So Soft" (I think) keeps them at bay.
www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/general-equipment/73705-midge-skin-so-soft.html
Last edited by: Lygonos on Sat 21 Jul 12 at 20:12
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I'll try that. I'll get Lady D'B to rub some on later. Or anything similar she has handy. Can't hurt can it?
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I use this at work. Certainly stops biting black flies. And it smells of lemon.
www.amazon.co.uk/Incognito-Natural-Anti-Mozzie-Special-Holiday/dp/B0062MQKHW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342898346&sr=8-2
You could try eating garlic. I noticed the little sods by their complete absence after walking through some Scottish woodland with wild garlic. Next time I'm up north I might try taking the capsules. Worth a try.
Last edited by: corax on Sat 21 Jul 12 at 20:24
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>I'm Scottish. We're used to midges. Normally they only bite English people.
But these are English midges.
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Figures. Miserable little sods...
:-)
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Thanks Corax, bit extreme though that !
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>> Thanks Corax, bit extreme though that !
Only jesting with that one Humph, should have added a smiley :)
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We don't have them down here in Surrey, can't afford the prices.
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What about Birmingham midges.
I know someone from Birmingham who seems to combine midge awareness with nanotechnology. If I spelt it correctly it might not pass the moderators. So I'll try this.
When referring to something really thin he says "as theen as a meedges deek".
Very descriptive I think. And no, I don't think he measures them.
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We've even got these ere blimmin Midgets down ere in the far South Western reaches, I blame the weather!
The critters attack me when I go out to squeegee the car windows orf in the morning, I wondered if it was because of the perfume I wear, not.
I don't use aftershave, under-arm stuff, shampoo on my hair, so the only alf decent pong is coming from the Pears soap I use :)
So I've stopped using that now and bought some Simple soap on bogof offer (watch this space)
I did notice there were fewer Midgets about this morning though, and the weather has picked up, so??
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Use a repellant containing Deet (diethyltoluamide). It's carcinogenic!
My daughters and me are plagued by insects. Our respective spouses swear we attract them because they never get bit when we're around.
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They've been terrible here too. Lots of wet weather and a few sunny spells, and it's thick with them.
The only thing that really works is a midge proof suit. I bought one a few years back for use when sitting in the hedge waiting for foxes. Basically, it's a full overalls that covers the head and face as well, and is made out of net curtain type material, but is camo coloured not white!
There are also some hand held devices now that use gas. They have some sort of flame in them and attract and kill bugs in the vicinity. Apparently they're very effective.
After the midges we have the moose flies to look forward to. Around late august/september they sit in the trees and hedges, then when passing CO2 is detected they glide down and land on you, losing their wings in the process. Then they're like little beetles and get everywhere, and are incredibly hard to pick off or squash. They're sort of flat, and are designed to move through the moose fur and hang on tight. I've had plenty on me, but never been bitten by one. It's just a bit disconcerting to take a shower before going to bed, then having one crawl down your forehead the next morning.
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This occurred to me this morning. I'm off to stay with friends on an island in the Inner Hebrides soon, can midges swim?
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>> I'm off to stay with friends on an island in the Inner Hebrides soon
Prime midgie country that!
We've had some benefit from the Avon product in the past, and the citronella in it seems enough to send the odd casual one somewhere else, but if you have proper serious quantities of midgies it won't work. Not much does as far as I know. But you'd be unlucky to get a serious attack.
A good dry breeze is the best repellent. They can't operate in any kind of wind. Warm, damp, still conditions are where you will likely find midgies.
You're unlikely to have much of a problem with them during the day unless you're in a wood. A still evening when the light fades is probably the worst time.
Midgies are one reason we tend to go east rather than west in Scotland in July and August.
Have a look at the midgie forecast -
2010.midgeforecast.co.uk
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>> A good dry breeze is the best repellent
>> You're unlikely to have much of a problem with them during the day unless you're
>> in a wood
No trees on the isle, mainly because it's too windy :)
i will check the midge situation with my friends, and pack some medical goodies just in case one of us is more sensitive than the others. Nearest shops will be 45 minutes plus a ferry ride away.
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>> No trees on the isle, mainly because it's too windy :)
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>> i will check the midge situation with my friends, and pack some medical goodies just
>> in case one of us is more sensitive than the others. Nearest shops will be
>> 45 minutes plus a ferry ride away.
Fascinated but puzzled! - which island?
We've been bothered by them on Harris at this time of year. Beaches etc OK but the blighters lurked over the damp moor behind the cottage. No sitting outside to watch the sunset!!!
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Wow, I thought it was just me! I've only ventured out into the back garden after work to check on the devastation caused by all of the slugs only to return indoors with massive bites on my lower legs (sock height). These bites aren't like other bites, they have made my skin come out in hard red lumps that itch like hell. The two creams I use for after the bites have happened are Anthisan and an OtC Hydrocortisone cream, these seem to reduce the redness and stop the itching, you could also try an antihistamine tablet.
By the size of my bites I would have blamed a Horse fly but I did catch one of the culprits this evening and it looks like they are a large type of mosquito.
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Aghhh! - don't mention the blimmin slugs, they've gorn through my Petunias and Marigolds, completely stripping em
as if a swarm of Locusts have been here.
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Loads of dead flies on the visor tonight - first time in ages...!
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First time in ages we ate on the terrace tonight. Far too many biters albeit it wibbly English ones.
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I've used a spray from Boots for years on my camping trips. It's their own brand in a pale blue aerosol. It seems to work ok. It pongs a bit but if you go and stand near Dog no-one's going to notice.
Ted
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Better to smell au naturale than like a poofter, Teddy.
:-}
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I use jungle strength DEET. Long ago I decided the best way to buy insect repellant was to go for the bottle with the most warning labels plastered over it, and so far the strategy seems to work.
You have to spray everywhere that's exposed (snigger) otherwise the little sods still find a bit of flesh to chew on. It's worked for me in Scotland at the height of summer.
For some reason midges seem to judge that I taste nicer than other people, since if I forget the repellant I'll have a swarm of them surrounding me while everyone else is left alone.
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>> Better to smell au naturale than like a poofter, Teddy.
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>> :-}
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I'm a Wright's Coal Tar man meself, Bonzo. That's probably why most of me hair has gone. None of this girly ' Pears ' stuff here !
A bucket of cold water in the scullery is all you need.
Ted
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I wash in the sink Teddy, (well, not in the sink!) using cold water (got 2 baths & 2 showers here!)
Is Wright's Coal Tar soap still available then, I have to get the missus to get me some.
My ole mum had a mighty fine complexion all her life, and used White Windsor in her younger days.
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>> By the size of my bites I would have blamed a Horse fly but I
>> did catch one of the culprits this evening and it looks like they are a
>> large type of mosquito.
It might be black fly. They do produce large red lumps with a blood spot in the middle that last for a week or more. The itching drives you mad.
www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcbitingflies.htm
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>>only to return indoors with massive bites on my lower legs (sock height).
Thats why Scotsmen wear Knee-socks and kilt! - one glance upwards puts `em right off their meal!!
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You're going near water at one of the gnats' favourite times. What do you expect? tinyurl.com/cuasxgy
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In that case then, there must be something weird going on here. No midges or Mozzies of any description here at all. Or in my 5 mile dog walking area.
Lot of slugs tho..,Biggest I have ever seen. Rare ones too. Lot of blackbirds and thrushes in the garden feasting on the worms snails and slugs.
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>>What do you expect?
Perhaps I didn't make myself clear L'es. I don't normally get bitten much no matter how near to their breeding grounds I put myself, or of I do I don't normally get a bad reaction . This year though they seem particularly blood thirsty. I've been coming up in great big pus weeping weals.
Not had anything this unpleasant even in hotter countries with their mozzys.
( Hope no one is eating while reading this )
:-)
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>> I don't normally get bitten much no matter
>> how near to their breeding grounds I put myself, or of I do I don't
>> normally get a bad reaction . This year though they seem particularly blood thirsty. I've
>> been coming up in great big pus weeping weals.
It's the smell which attracts them. You must be using a different brand of soap/aftershave/deodorant/shampoo/hair gel/perfume.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sun 22 Jul 12 at 16:53
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Mosquitoes are life, or at least health-threatening in quite large areas of the world unless you keep taking the pills. Even they don't always work and you can still get a suppressed touch of malaria. And of course they carry other stuff too, the deadliest being yellow fever. Don't forget to get the shots!
Of course the damn things still wake you up by screaming in your ear or biting you. In Africa I sometimes used to burn so-called mosquito coils, whose smoke as they smoulder is supposed to deter them. Not sure if it does, but it certainly doesn't make you feel all that well and is said to be harmful.
On the inside of my left wrist is a straight line of five or six brown freckles. They were once a line of small but angry bites left by some sort of insect in Tanzania over thirty years ago. Not a mosquito, some sort of evil flea or bug.
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>> This year though they seem particularly blood thirsty. I've
>> been coming up in great big pus weeping weals.
You know what the answer is. Take up smoking again. A guy at work who has now retired never got bitten. Maybe something to do with the fact that he stank of fags even when he wasn't smoking. His blood was mainly composed of nicotine.
Last edited by: corax on Sun 22 Jul 12 at 19:15
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Tis true. I never got bit whilst on marlboro.
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Smoking never made any difference to me, I got bitten as a kid, from my (smoking) teenage years and I still get bitten now although I gave up the weed ten years ago.
I've had sixty-odd years of blood donations to the insect world.
I find deet works to a degree. This time of year I switch to using coal-tar soap (SWMBO can put up with me smelling like a newly tarred road) and I take vitamin B complex for a week before going anywhere different.
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We were on the Llangollen canal last week and I can't say I noticed a single midge.
But things like that never bite me anyway.
I'm slightly Scottish, as in born there but English really, so perhaps I've still got residual immunity.
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We've got a real problem with horse flies this year in our neck of the woods. Never seen so many of them, and looking at the state of some people who've been bitten, I really hope not to encounter one up close and personal.
Horse flies and slugs. A great year! :-)
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While I must confess to having been partial to Avon skin-so-soft to ward off midges, tests apparently show that a new repellent called Smidge is more effective.
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Something went for a circular tour of my neck while I was gardening yesterday. Half-a-dozen very tender spots where it stopped for a nibble.
I then managed to impale my foot on a rusty nail hidden by undergrowth I was clearing. Neighbour had a fence replaced earlier this year.
GP checked my records and as my last tetanus jab was eighteen years ago..........
I'm now covered for polio, diphtheria and tetanus.
Anyone else want to punch holes in me? ;>(
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>tests apparently show that a new repellent called Smidge is more effective.
Recommended in last month's Sporting Gun by a guy who runs deer stalking courses in Northumberland.
Don't tell Humph though. Let him learn that English midges are not the sissy skirt-wearing things they get north of the border.
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who does the testing? Thats one job I won't apply for....
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Best repellant for biting midges is Saltidin contained in various repellants including Smidge.
Some interesting test results here.
www.saltidin.com/fileadmin/downloads/saltidin/formulations/saltidinallfamilycream20_2011.pdf
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Fit and particularly nasty Midges? - MD
