Midges in Scotland

😆

Eaten to bits yesterday afternoon in Rothiemurchus. Surprised how midgy for mid October…

So I was in the highlands about 6 weeks ago creating the North Coast 500 film ( here – public but yet to be ‘launched’). There were plenty of midges all the way round, however they didn’t once find the cyclists unless they stopped. And because they were doing 100mi/day, there weren’t many stops anyway. So if you’re riding out there, and don’t plan on ‘loitering’ much, you’ll not have an issue at all.

From a crew point of view – being totally honest – about two minutes after we jumped out of the truck they located us. Repellent didn’t really do anything. Well it might have, to some extent, but I BATHED in it daily and they were not repelled. If you wear long sleeves and a hood(ed jacket) they seem to leave you alone. I found them biting in/around my head was the worst.

edit: ps I should mention we were all using the strongest jungle formula AND avon

Generally never bothered by midges, but one notable time sticks in my mind. Had a stupid crash 5 years ago and was trying to bend my front wheel back into a rideable shape whilst every midge in the forest gnawed on me and my friend (who was unimpressed that I’d caused them to become midge-food). Was applying anti-itch cream for the next week 🙁
Apparently they don’t like garlic or chilli as it’s sweated out, and most of my food has either or both in liberal doses, so that may be what keeps them away from me most of the time. Or luck.

edit: ps I should mention we were all using the strongest jungle formula AND avon

lolz, noob. Jungle Formula is useless and Avon Skin So Soft just drowns them. Smidge ftw

Smidge is brilliant stuff. Avon Skin so soft has never really worked for me.

Midges are also evident South of the Border – at a Keilder 100 event some years ago, after the prize giving the MT rescue guys were leaving and switching on the headlights of their cars revealed clouds and clouds of midges. At which point everyone realised it wasn’t just them suffering and that there was no escape.

They are TPITA but a good excuse to smoke a fat Havana!

Piss off, there are no “best months”!

Dec/Jan usually ok.

I’m a a midgie free environment, they just don’t like me at all. They’ll settle on me but very rarely bite. Something I just love telling people at the roadside or standing outside a bothy. Anyway, I’ve heard people swear by the following, in no particular order
– Citronella oil (the candles do seem to keep them away when lit)
– Avon Skin So Soft
– Smidge
– Rubbing yourself regularly with a sheet of Bounce (that fabric conditioner stuff)
– Eating garlic
– Nets

I’ve also heard people swear about most of the above

every time someone says skin so soft only drowns them, god kills a kitten

I work in the perfume industry and for years I’ve been trying to work out what it is in Skin so Soft that works. Avon would love to drop the Woodland Fern (or whatever it’s called) variant but can’t because it sells so well.

There’s only a small percentage of citronella in the perfume formulation so my best guess, having seen how it works while waiting for punctures to be fixed in woodland, is that the strong fougere (fern in French) odour confuses the midges because it resembles the natural smell of their environment and masks the CO2, octanol and odour given off by humans and animals, which the female needs to bite to get blood so as to be able to reproduce. It does seem to keep them away rather than just prevent them from biting once they’ve landed on you.

Failing that, you need DEET, a rather nasty molecule that is excreted in your urine for 48 hours after you’ve applied it to your skin. DEET comes in all kinds of bases such as mineral oil, petroleum jelly, lotion and so on at up to 25% dosage if I remember.

We’ve found mosquito coils quite good; just two or three burning around the tent really do keep them away and inside the tent they kill the midges, but unfortunately the smoke also gives me bronchitis.

I’ve lost count of the numbers of family camping and climbing holidays we cut short when I was a kid. Several books have been written about the effect of the midge on Scotland’s economy because they discourage tourism and prevent people from working outdoors. Go in May when the weather is often in anticyclonic conditions and sunburn can be a risk, keep moving and stay in bothies and you’ll be fine.

Vit B seems to help

Marmite is good in that respect. Make sure you slap on a good think even coverage though, I think its probably best to apply two coats.

Midges have never really impacted significantly on my overall enjoyment of being in the Highlands and they probably won’t on yours either. There’s way too much good to be outweighed by such annoyances. That’s not to say that you won’t suffer a little bit but it’s all relative.

I have had some horrible encounters at Torridon and on Skye but by far the worst attack, yes attack was a fortnight ago in the Lairig Ghru. They were like super midges with the rage virus. I’ve never known anything like it and the other alternative strategy for dealing with this situation that no one else has mentioned so far – running away didn’t work either. I couldn’t shake them off and this was further up than the lovely rideable part of the Ghru. I enjoyed hitting that at speed even more that day.

I’m a forestry surveyor, so spend all summer and winter out on my own, on my feet, in the Highlands.

Smidge works really well, what it does is it stops them landing and biting, but they’ll still swarm around you. I can live with that.

What I find worse that the midges sometimes are the bigger black-coloured flies. Nothing will stop them, no repellents, nada. Huge swarms at times hundreds strong. And it’s not because I don’t wash, I’m in the river at least every month.

What about clegs or horse flies? They hurt! At least they’re easy to swat.

Aye obelix, those black buggers are grim, and they are a lot faster than midges, so harder to get away from.

Clegs are the worst though, bastards were biting me through my clothes on Arran in July.

Mull is where ordinary highland midges have been selectively bred to become weaponised by a secret Biological warfare program. Had to abandon a tent there once and retreat inside a car, only to get loads of the buggers coming in through the air vents.

Roughed it for a week in highlands few years ago. Used ULTRATHON , developed for us navy seals to use in mangroves.can buy it off ray mears website or military issue equivellent in plain package off eBay for lot cheaper.
Costly but only stuff I’ve used that really works.

Ultrathon is yet another repellent with DEET but is has a higher dosage at 35%. Boots sell it.

If you have any concerns, or lack of testicular fortitude, I would stay away.

The trails were far to busy this week with families on half term up here. I would like clearer trails, rivers and hills please.

Aye, clegs too, Scotland has it all…

I’m wary of DEET-containing products. While deemed safe by the US’s FDA, I’m still sceptical about their proclamations. Been found to have effects on neurotransmitter-related enzymes in other animals, so I’d rather take my chances with the Smidge, as it works well enough.

Saw a story (might have been on here) about someone rock-climbing on a summer highland evening without any repellents. Got swarmed by midges while halfway up a rockface. Can’t think of a worse situation to be in! You need your wits about you, have to reach (exposing the softer skin), and can’t escape to anywhere. Blood hell!

I was half way up the front face of the Inn Pin and getting eaten by midges.

It’s definitely distracting.

For the umpteenth time Avon Skin so Soft is not a repellent

It seemed to work for me, though I did end up with a great deal of road kill along my arms and legs when cycling up the east coast.

There’s no predicting it though – I did a lovely day ride in Ayrshire last July and wasn’t bothered by midges at all.

Saw a story (might have been on here) about someone rock-climbing on a summer highland evening without any repellents. Got swarmed by midges while halfway up a rockface. Can’t think of a worse situation to be in! You need your wits about you, have to reach (exposing the softer skin), and can’t escape to anywhere. Blood hell!

I’ve reached a number of belays on long mountain multi pitches and when you get there and they are often damp, cramped and precarious stances where you’ve got no room to wiggle and you’re basically stood still for 30 minutes being eaten alive, unable to move or use your hands. 👿

Long trousers, tops and head nets are absolutely essential.

That’s not the worst thing that you can find at a belay though 🙁

I was half way up the front face of the Inn Pin and getting eaten by midges.

Euphemism?

That’s not the worst thing that you can find at a belay though

And you can’t exactly chuck it down on the second….and I don’t carry plastic bags round with me when leading. Clearly they did not either.

Camping in midge season teaches you to strategise setting up and taking down. Also running around to shake them off before you dive catflap style into the tent at night. At Torridon, even with this, after the third day I need to turn the tent inside out and shake the bastards out.

I always carry an aerosol can of insecticide.

Scotland tour, day one:
Found a lovely pub overlooking a small loch for an evening meal. The outside tables were all free so we went inside to order and wondered why there was a very smokey fire going inside in August

How does something as small as a midge eat you? We were inside long before the food came out

Secret life of midgies starting in half an hour. bbc 1 (dunno if just scotland.)

350 million midges per person! 😆

can’ fly in 5mph wind or below 8C. don’t like anything more than very light rain!

We picked up the 2,000 Trillion possible midges in Scotland figure…..