A group of us did Minchmoor Loop at Innerleithen on Saturday. Half way round we encountered a mechanical then a puncture. Whilst faffing/fixing the issues, we were assaulted by swarm of black flies, bigger and meaner than yer normal midge…..like big ants with wings.

After showering that evening, I found 3 bites on me left leg. Small, bright & perfectly cirular red dots (bigger than a midge bite). Then, last night, started to get pain in the area deep within the muscle of the surrounding tissue. The bites have now scabbed over and the red dot increased to the size of a 5p with lighter redness spread throughout the area, with the dreaded itch. The area sore to touch/press & deep within. 😥

Before I’m told I’m going to die, have my leg amputated, wear tights, or need a big dose of MTFU….I was just wondering if anyone knows what they are? I’ve seen and been the meal ticket to swarms of midgies before, but to me, these were the spartans of the insect world.

Cheers

The only things big and mean enough to do that that I know of are horse flies but they’re obviously not big ants with wings. Time to make your arrangements.

Big ants with wings are most likely flying ants…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-10711280

Could it have been a clegg? they bite.

Danny79

I’ve seen this occur on a few occasions whilst I worked in a car showroom. Was really strange, the air become black and it made the customers/staff run in fear from the lot. Wouldn’t last long, over in 20/30 minutes.

The things we encountered on Saturday weren’t mating, they were physically abusing us.

passtherizla

No didn’t look like that. (haven’t yet mastered the singletrack picture posting yet, so won’t bother attempting to display a pic)

Highly unlikely given the distribution of the species but….. sounds similar to the Blandford Fly

This species of blackfly is associated with the Dorset Stour but has been recorded in other parts of England. It can cause nasty blistering but you’d be the first to find it north of the border as far as I know? There may be other species of blackfly (as opposed to flies that are black) that bite humans, found in your region?

Experienced blackfly in Yukon Territory, Canada. Evil things, that if squished, seemed to leave their head behind in the bite.

As above ^, the Blandford Fly is probably UKs “best known” black fly

Midges are my own personal nemesis – nothing seems to deter them and I react badly a few days after being bitten

The bites have now scabbed over and the red dot increased to the size of a 5p with lighter redness spread throughout the area, with the dreaded itch

Got to be Cleggs

prepare for those lumps to get a lot, lot bigger!

Sounds more likely that it could be blackfly. Quoting from Davies(1966) in ‘The taxonomy of British Black-flies (Diptera: Simuliidae)’ in the Transcripts of the Royal Entomological Society London, 118(14):

Despite the abundance of larvae and pupae in water courses of all types, well known to students of freshwater habitats, adult black-flies are not familiar to the general public in Britain, nor to the majority of entomologists. This seems largely to reflect the fact that we do not have a common black-fly species that readily and generally seeks to bite humans in preference to wild or domestic mammals or birds. Nevertheless, instances of annoyance or even quite severe effects on humans caused by biting black-flies have been recorded in Britain (Edwards, Oldroyd & Smart, 1939). In certain years black-flies are a considerable problem in various parts of the Scottish
Highlands, particularly in the Spey Valley, where they are known to the inhabitants as “birch-flies” (C. B. Williams, personal communication).

I suspect you saw Hawthorn flies which are a bit randy at the moment and look like the oddest things flying around, but they would not have bitten you. You might have been bitten by mozzies if you were near standing water and there wasn’t much wind, but they don’t look like midge bites. Clegs really put a hole in you and i doubt you would not notice being bitten by one multiple times. I think you’ve probably been bitten by midges or possibly mozzies, chances are you’ll survive.

And yet more evidence.

Sorry I’m an aquatic ecologist!

Minchmoor – recall loads of quite big flies on the climb from Traquair as you pass through the trees. Not sure they bit; just annoying.

Bit early for cleggs? their bite is really nasty though, tends to lump up as well as redden.

This is the biting blackfly I remember from the Yukon. Not saying it is the same species – but the habit is identical – arse up head down biting position, like it was burrowing it’s head into your flesh – nice…

ETA – Cleggs / horesflies are pretty big. They are very “stealthy”, so you quite often don’t notice until bitten – but certainly painful

Dr_Bakes

Looked very much like the fly in the picture of the Independent link.

bigjim

Definitely not midge bites, they were crawling threw me hairy legs. Was fixing a punture and a handful of us were walking about waving like mad. They were also beefier than mozzies.

It was only in this one particular boggy area after leaving the red route and heading out towards Selkirk.

EDIT

rkk01

Looked similar to that, but never saw one biting me. Bite wasn’t painful.

suspect you saw Hawthorn flies which are a bit randy at the moment and look like the oddest things flying around

Thanks, I was wondering what those things were whilst out with the dog the other day, and now I know.

Yeah, always wondered what they were too! Definitely strange looking when flying

Blandford flies are a type of blackfly and are utter utter bastards – they used to be local to Blandford Forum in Dorset but they are cropping up a bit more widely these days – doubt if they are as far north as Southern Scotland yet though, but the buggers have deffo got to Ross-on-Wye

Thanks, I was wondering what those things were whilst out with the dog the other day, and now I know.

In July/August, when the Heather starts flowering, you’ll get Heather flies, which are related but have little red bits of trim. They have the same gangly leg flying style though.

I think I rode through some Hawthorn flies the other day – the best way I can think to describe it is, from the position of their body to the angle of flight they reminded me of Boba Fetts space ship in Star Wars!