• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

I hate MIDGES

Maybe my blood type has changed! I was never aware of ever being bitten in previous years. This year? Loads.
 
SamQ aka Ah! Q! said:
Beautiful picture, no matter the hill.
I agree, could be Ben More if you took the classic ascent out the back of the old Youth Hostel. Remember the massive black range in the kitchen?
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Sorry for the hijack Roger, excuse Sam and I for a wee bit of reminiscing.

Further reaseach identifies that image is of Ben Lawes from Bheinn Ghlas which we also acended on that trip. I remember we stayed in a house, self catered, walking distance from a very nice pub. Was never a member of the YHA sadly. Was a member of the MBA though, Mountain Bothies Association, and used them a lot.
 
This was discussed on local radio this morning with Dr Blackwell quoted. It seems they (midges) are more prevalent due to the mild winter and wet start to the year.

The larvae live a few mm below the soil surface and when it’s wet it’s easier for them to get out. Their biggest enemy is a dry wind as they then dehydrate very quickly.

The ying and yang of nature though means more midges means more food for the birds.

We were up in Scotland last week staying on Royal Deeside. Plenty of swallows and bats - one of my daughters awoke to find a confused bat had flown in through her bedroom window which added a bit of drama!
 
Well to update. Again, any mistakes are mine, not my partner’s. I was pushing rosemary into the dimples on my focaccia at that point (how’s that for a euphemism? Happens to be literally true) so I wasn’t listening with all my - admittedly limited - attention.

The blood type thing is a theory. There are studies which show some correlation. But there are so many variables. It appears to differ between species of mosquito for a start. My partner works mainly on anopheles, but the blood type preference correlation seems to be more prevalent in aedes. It is entirely possible that O blood is associated with traits that are attractive to mossies, but are not exclusive to that blood type. So, it is not actually the blood type itself. Mealy mouthed these scientists, eh.

And I have no idea how this would apply to midges. There is however something strange about the midges’ life cycle. ‘Not fully understood’. Now when a scientist says that to me I never know whether that is: we ‘don’t know exactly how it works’, or we ‘haven’t got a scooby’.

Now can we drift the thread to Munroes and bats.
 
it's extremely mild and cold for the time of year at least up north northwest it is, it definitely doesn't help, I have eaten a few whilst cycling and sniffed a few as well whilst they're alive, it's an extraordinary feeling, apparently good protein according to ray mears and I need to wear goggles to prevent them landing in my eyes to stop me from crying.
 
Is there any truth in the story that a meal heavy in garlic offers some protection from mosquitoes the next day?
 
We used to get fleas from the cooking fat. They bit me mercilessly - I'd get bitten within seconds of walking in the front door - but didn't bite my wife. She thought it funny until one day she put the carrycot down and seconds later my daughter was crawling with them. We got rid of them and the carpets quickly enough then. We went to NZ to see my sister and my wife got badly bitten by mosquitos - they ignored me. I got badly bitten by sand flies, however which totally ignored her.
We now have no carpets or even rugs so with both a dog and a cat we have no problems, although they're both treated.
 
Tiresias said:
.........My partner works mainly on anopheles, but the blood type preference correlation seems to be more prevalent in aedes......
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So, researching into malaria and dengue fever, I presume.
 
BravoNovember said:
Keep an eye on that, the Lyme’s disease is about a lot this year.
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Sure will, it came out very cleanly with one of those tick removal tools which we all ought to have at home and in our travelling first aid kits. That blighter had likely been there since the morning dog walk some 12 hours earlier.
 
Mike G said:
So, researching into malaria and dengue fever, I presume.
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Well, spot on with the malaria Mike, plasmodium falciparum. As opposed to p. vivax or the other 3 or so types. And I would be lying if I said I fully appreciated the difference. Other than that falciparum is the most troublesome. Funding can be tiresome though – the places that are worst affected tend to have the least money. However one does get to see some ‘interesting’ bits of the world.
 
AndyP said:
Midges, bah.
Just extracted a tick from my leg.:eek: The white stuff is sprayed antiseptic
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Ticks are a right nuisance in the uplands around us. Sometimes a dog will come back more tick than dog. Even worse in Sweden – somedays I just didn’t take the wunderhund down Björndalen. I’ve had a few, but generally kept skin covered up. The commercial extraction tools do work well though.

What I do like is that when the little whatsits climb up to the top of grass/vegetation waiting for a host to brush past, the technical term for that is ‘questing’. Always makes me think they should have a small lance and pennant.
 
Tiresias said:
I’ve had a few, but generally kept skin covered up. The commercial extraction tools do work well though.
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I had been wearing jeans all day so was covered up. Only likely time and place the tick could have jumped on me was 8.30-9.00am while walking the mutt. Walking boots were worn and no bear flesh visible except face and hands. Walking along farm tracks. No sign of any on the dog but spotting a black tick on a furry black dog is not easy . Plenty of likely hosts amongst the wildlife around here, deer and wild boar. No sheep.
Extra tick tools now purchased and distributed amongst offspring.
 
Tiresias said:
What I do like is that when the little whatsits climb up to the top of grass/vegetation waiting for a host to brush past, the technical term for that is ‘questing’.
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South American leeches. Local guide showed me how to 'wave' your hand flat, just not quite touching a local.bush? Bush waved back. Massed ranks of leeches on the outer extremities of the twigs.
 
The Good News ? Too hot for midges - Evil Beastie No 1

Make way for Evil Beastie No 3 - clegs. :mad:
Too hot to wear jeans and long-sleeved top so gardening abandoned. Bloody things.

At least we seem to have been spared Evil Beastie No 2 - 100 or more black flies buzzing around your head, eyes and ears.
 
There was a thing on possibly Springwatch? recently where it was said that the treatments used to keep dogs and cats free from fleas etc are getting into the rivers in measurable quantities. Presumably from animals going in the water. They showed water samples with lots of natural life and a but further downstream far lower levels of living organisms and far higher concentrations of the active pesticide. It surprised me as I was under the impression that treating dogs etc was a good thing all round, but it seems there are side effects to the natural balance.
 
RogerS said:
Just watched an excellent programme on BBC2 Tuesday 7pm The Secet Life of Midges Very much worth a look.
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I watched that show yesterday evening, and it was good. We have similar pests here, but not the blood-sucking vampire midges that plague Scotland.
 
Just had a text from a neighbour holidaying(!!) just past Ullapool. She says they haven't had a midge in a fortnight.


They have also not been able to walk vertically for the first week, with the sea breaking over the garden wall too. Second week, they still haven't seen the sun and waterproofs are de rigour. God help them if it 'fairs up' or that high pressure at the weekend equates to a wind drop.
 
SamQ aka Ah! Q! said:
....
I once was in Torridon Youth Hostel in August and some wally opened the dorm window "to let in some air" :mad: a black wedge of massed Insectae dove in. He was rapidly introduced to profane Scottish and Northern Irish commentary, and we stood over him for the next two hours as we insisted he kill the lot before we could sleep in there. His parting comment? "We don't have midges in Coventry"🤯
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I will never understand why you folks don't have window screens.

Kirk, who killed 8 mosquitos in five minutes yesterday morning while throwing the ball for the dog...
 
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