Any Scots around to give midge advice?

[bonniethomas06]

Sooo excited, am off on my hols to the Isle of Lewis for the last week of August. Have been doing much research about bothies and remote scottish crofts and suchlike (I am hoping to include both) but have just read a horrendous report about someone being totally chewed up by midges

Are there any Highlanders out there who can give me any advice? So far all I can gather is that Skin So Soft by Avon is a good repellent, and that August is the worst month to go but I would like a slightly less alarmist and better informed opinion if anyone can offer me one?

Thanks

Bonnie x

[Green Aura]

The midges can be a problem - I remember one holiday up here when we got mobbed every time we left the house and couldn't open the windows even though it was sweltering! They're particularly bad round the peat areas - they breed in acid bogs, I understand.

Skin So Soft is reportedly very good, although I've never tried it myself. Most of the proprietary midge repellents are alcohol based, feel horrible on your skin and don't seem to work that well IMHO.

We use bog myrtle essential oil in a little carrier oil - the midges and clegs(?) keep away. Like anything it needs re-applying quite regularly but it's good stuff. If you get a bottle - I sell it and so do Amphora Aromatics (they're cheaper than me because I can only buy it in much smaller amounts, but I don't know what they charge for postage) you can make your own bog myrtle soap which gives you a good all over start to the day (and put some in your shampoo too). Then carry a small bottle of carrier oil with it ready diluted to re-apply as necessary.

[Green Aura]

I know, I must

[Stonehead]

Just run about screaming and flapping your arms, with intermittent breaks to scratch wildly.

We've never found anything that actually works apart from covering yourself in netting from head to toe—which is not practical when you're spending upwards of 10 hours working outside. So we just resign ourselves to being lump and itchy—with numerous patches of white on our skin where we've liberally applied the calamine lotion.

[grahamhobbs]

I'm a long way from Scottish bogs, but we get midges on our allotment around dusk - I know to my cost, got bitten to death one evening last week when working hard one late evening. Following evenings remembered to rub lavender flowers over arms and face, worked a treat - only got bit on my legs which I forgot to do. So maybe a bit of lavender water might be a handy trick.

[bonniethomas06]

We've never found anything that actually works apart from covering yourself in netting from head to toe—which is not practical when you're spending upwards of 10 hours working outside. So we just resign ourselves to being lump and itchy—with numerous patches of white on our skin where we've liberally applied the calamine lotion.

Great, can't wait for that! Am already having a bit of an issue persuading my OH that he wants to go on a working holiday on someone else's smallholding when we have one of our own But apparently we will be hand tieing oats which will have been cut by an old Massey Ferguson - I mean, was there a more romantic notion?

Thanks for the tips, I will make sure I am well stocked up.

Bonnie x

[fruitcake]

I use Avon Skin so Soft - it works for me

I'd recomend a midge hood / net for it you're bothying / camping

Also - burn some citronella oil / insense

And take lavendar oil to put on the bites as soon as they start to itch - witch hazel gel also works

And carry some antihitemine tablets just in case anyone has a severe action

Don't worry too much - they don't come out in heavy rain, wind or sunshine

[Thomzo]

I have a pond-full of midge larvae and I am eagerly awaiting their emergence. I don't have any fish in the pond so any tips on getting rid of them? I use copper in the water butts but is it safe to put it in the pond or will it affect the other, friendlier, wildlife?

Zoe

[citizentwiglet]

For some reason, the midgies eat OH alive, yet leave me and the kids alone. He swears by putting a sheet of that 'Bounce' stuff you put in a tumble drier looped through a belt-loop or similar.

[bonniethomas06]

Thanks guys, I will try all of these suggestions.

Apparently levels are generally low at the moment: http://2010.midgeforecast.co.uk/index.php/home/ Although for some reason Lewis doesn't seem to have a rating.

I have also heard that eating copious amounts of garlic, marmite and whiskey put them off!

[Millymollymandy]

Midges only bite me in my hair so I can't put any repellant there and spraying Jungle Formula on my hair doesn't repel them. If I wear a hat the little blighters bite my ears and neck instead. They are mostly OK at the moment (plenty of other biting things around instead!) but they are dreadful here at times especially in the winter.

[battybird]

I have a pond-full of midge larvae and I am eagerly awaiting their emergence. I don't have any fish in the pond so any tips on getting rid of them? I use copper in the water butts but is it safe to put it in the pond or will it affect the other, friendlier, wildlife?

Zoe

I was listening to a gardening programme at the weekend and they recommend a few drops of olive..I suppose it might work for your pond if there are no fish!
Apparently basil plants deter midges if left on windowsills etc ...! I can understand it as I carried about 20 pots of basil in the car yesterday and it made me want to leave!! I love it in small quantities, though!

[Andy Hamilton]

Hmm got this to look forward to when I move up!

I tend to get bitten by mosquitos after a night out and I researched the reason. When you drink your Vit B levels decrease and the lower your level of vit b the more likely you are to be bitten. So I take vit b complex tablets before and after I am planning a night out and I tend to get bitten less. I've also heard that insects have favorites so if you can find someone who is always being bitten then hang around with them so they get bitten instead of you!

[citizentwiglet]

There you go, Bonnie. I can hire out my other half to accompany you to Lewis, and get eaten alive whilst leaving you unscathed. Shimplesh.

[Millymollymandy]

What Andy says about favourites is soooo true! When we lived in the Netherlands surrounded by all those dikes and water the mossies there were huge and bit my husband badly and he had some really big nasty bites from them - yet they mostly left me alone.

Now in Brittany I am the one who gets bitten to death by midges and (much worse) harvest mites whilst the only thing that goes for him is horseflies - which have never even come near me.