Oct 11th, Dublin - Mosquitoes - What the...!?!

joker77

Not sure where to post this thread - here or Green Issues, there is no forum on climate so I'm guessing Weather is the next best??

Ok so here goes - I play football for a local club in Dundrum, and we train twice a week in the evenings behind the swimming pool at the DFRC (Dundrum Family Recreation Centre). The area behind there is a large green, enough for 4 football pitches, surrounded by the bushes and then the backs of the houses. We start back pre-season training in July, and for the last 3 years I've been getting bitten by Mosquitoes on a regular basis while training in August and into September. Some people who I've said it to think I'm crazy, that it's either midges or some kind of fly, but I've been to countries that have mosquitoes and know what they look like. I killed 2 last night on my legs.

Usually towards the end of the summer when the evenings start getting a bit cooler, the biting stops. But this morning I'm itching my leg, elbow, wrist and neck after being bitten last night. Last night being the 11th of October....

Is this a strange phenomenon?? Are mosquitoes all over Ireland becoming more prevalent or is this an isolated pocket of the little bast*rds?

I got a little knock last night while training, and eased off for the last half hour and was mostly just watching rather than taking part, so granted I was the soft stationary target for them, but I would have though by this time of year they would have died off.

My own theory of how they got here is twofold. 1, there is a definite change in climate going on. 2, with the increase of people doing round the world trips, the little creatures are finding there way here, and are starting to adapt and survive here.

Is anyone else still getting bitten by Mosquitoes in Ireland?

Snowbie

No problem posting this here.

Me personally have never seen a mosquito in this country and this is the first time ever hearing of a sighting.
The last two weeks in september, mosquitos would not have survived with the cold weather we had around then,but there has been some very unseasonable weather in the med and high pressure dominating here with south east winds from the continent giving us pleasant mild and humid conditions.

So it is a distant possibility that these little lads got side tracked and stumbled upon our med climate over the last couple of weeks?.

Also in theory,climate change(warm) will introduce more bugs,mosquitos etc upon us,again in theory as the climate may support such.

r3nu4l

There is a discussion in Biology & Medicine about mosquitos in Ireland. I know for a fact that there are permanent colonies of mosquitos in parts of the UK so it is not unfeasible that they could have crossed the water on warm air, I suppose.

joker77

Good to hear this is the right place!

Well, as I said in my original post, I've been getting bitten by mosquitoes in this very small pocket of Dublin for 3 years now, just never this late in the season. I now the weather has been mild in September/October so far, only 2 cold mornings that I can remember, so am not sure whether they are starting to adapt or it's just the climate changing

Noopti

I can't believe people in Ireland still seem to think the notion of mosquitoes in this country is untrue. I have been told numerous times "they can't be mosquitoes" or "there are no mosquitoes in Ireland". There are.

I have seen them for the past 5 years. My parent came back from holidays there at the end of September. When they came back they left the back door of the house open for a while to air the place. That evening, the house was infested with them, my dad killed something like 30 of them. And yes, they were definitely mossies, bulbous striped bodies, needle mouthpiece and they even left red blood marks when killed.

I have also seen them in other parts of Dublin and also in Navan this year. I think the reason we are seeing them so late this year is due to the very wet summer, and the relatively mild/warm days we had a few weeks ago.

Snowbie

Nope sorry mate,never saw one here myself.
I asked my colleauge beside me and he is from the D11 area and he said he never saw one either,but he also said he did see a couple of flies once.:rolleyes:

chalkie

Not strange at all.... Mosquitoes have always been around, especially in Malahide area where a more aggressive "breed" was accidently released by some berk who had been studying them. Must have been an exciting pastime that!

Anyway, those mosquitoes have taken court in nearby wetlands.

Elsewhere mossies are quite common especially in warm and damp weather. I've been teaching kids how to recognise them and then to KILL THEM! :mad:
Sorry but my tendency to protect mother nature and her offspring extends only so far...

We really need the weather to turn cold to kill these guys off...until next year.

I would also suggest though that midges are contributing to your bites and itches around the football pitches.

Joe

Supercell

I've seen a couple during warm spells even up here, but thankfully not recently (the recent frosts here have probably hibernated the swines).

Thankfuly most flying beasties have buggered off here by now, but the spiders are still everywhere, but shrinking in numbers fast.

Some people are lucky and are less attractive to the bugs and naturally dont get bitten as much- I remember being on holidays in Greece as a kid and having very few bites and my mother being covered. That said I'm a light sleeper and the buzzing noise the mossies make is very distracting.

chalkie

Further to my post on the "Malahide" mossies, here is a reply to a query from a councillor in Malahide/Portmarnock dating from Jan 1st, 1999. So you'll see those dastardly mossies have been around for quite a while...relatively speaking.

The "berk" that introduced this particular colony of mossies to Malahide was a Lord Talbot....may he itch in peace.

*edit*

Gawd, I need a life. For those people who want to take mossies very seriously here's a link to what looks like the definitive paper on them! Guess what? There are 18 different types of mosquitoes in Ireland...sucks, eh?

http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/pdfs/004240-0.PDF

"To ask the Manager to state if there is a programme for addressing the mosquito problems in Malahide and Portmarnock, emanating from the Broadmeadow Estuary and the Baldoyle Estuary?"

Reply:

In recent years the Eastern Health Board has carried out treatments of known mosquito breeding sites in the Malahide/Portmarnock/Baldoyle/Sutton areas. These treatments usually take place in May and consist of applying a larvicidal agent to the breeding ponds which kill off the larvae thus reducing the population of potential adult mosquitoes. Advice is also given to individual householders and landowners in relation to mosquito control measures. An information leaflet is also available from the Health Board (a copy of this leaflet is attached). The Eastern Health Board propose to undertake the treatment campaign again this year subject to adequate resources being available.

Danno

Caught one in my house the other night. This humid weather seems to be bringing them out...

ciaran76

Yes I have seen them in the Clonee/Blanchardstown area for the last 4 years. I could not believe I saw one on Thursday night as I thought the cold would have killed them all.

Anyway I think this year I have seen more then usual. My friend who lives in Donabate says his house was infested with them this summer. Esp. in Sept.

Gonzo

theres been mosquitoes in my house for the past month, quite annoying at night really when im trying to get to sleep.

sirpsycho

Lotsa them in the house for the last couple of months, couldnt believe it. East Meath. Have to keep the doors and windows closed in the evenings

gerky

Just thought some of you might like to know I saw a female mosquito outside today,it was dying but we are in to November now its a bit bizarre.
I may be forced to lash out at the next person that says its great to be getting the good weather.

Mothman

Only just seen this thread.
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding regarding mosquitos in Ireland.
They are resident here, always have been, always will be.

I don't know exact numbers of species, but there are 32 species in Britain. Considering that there are typically 2/3 the number of species in Ireland, I would think 20 species is a good guess.

They breed in any still water and need as little as a month to complete lifecycle. There are species on the wing all year round. Particularly noticeable now beacuse of the wet summer and lack of predators (Most insect eating birds leave for winter)

Only the females bite. she actually needs that blood feed to be able to develop the eggs.

Urban areas have less standing water so that is why they are seen less in these areas. Typical breeding sites can be a tyre on its side, plants that hold water at base of leaves, normal ponds etc.

I use light traps to record moths and these attract plenty of mosquitos. If I get round to it I'll get some photos when I trap next and uplaod here.

Very interesting couple days ago was at least 10 mosquitos feeding off a small slug. Oh I wish I got a picture, but for some folks probably a stomach churning sight.

I think there is not much known about them in Ireland because the species here don't carry dieseases such as malaria, red river etc so apart from the actual discomfort of a bite, they are not much of a threat.

Snowbie

I think MM i fall into the catagory regarding misunderstanding Irish "mosquito's". Well in this little urban part of the world we called them midgets.So if a midget=mosquito well of course i have been attackd by the critters myself and have therefore seen one,we just dont or have never heard people around here calling them mosquito's.Its too posh;)

Mosquito is from Spain
Midget well appears to be only from NE Dublin.:D

Would have been interested to see the bug pic.

Mothman

Snowbie wrote: »

I think MM i fall into the catagory regarding misunderstanding Irish "mosquito's". Well in this little urban part of the world we called them midgets.So if a midget=mosquito well of course i have been attackd by the critters myself and have therefore seen one,we just dont or have never heard people around here calling them mosquito's.Its too posh;)

Mosquito is from Spain
Midget well appears to be only from NE Dublin.:D

Interested to see the bug pic.

Maybe so, but there are also midges. These are what get you in the hills, but really only in Summer (and probably into Autumn)

I don't see midges down here in the lowlands and you've allured to, we don't have midgets in Wicklow

I'll see what pictures I can get when I trap next, or maybe before as they're in my house as well.

Snowbie

oops:o
ah there both small and they bite.:p

Mothman

Mothman wrote: »

I don't see midges down here in the lowlands and you've allured to, we don't have midgets in Wicklow

Yes we do! At least in this part of lowland wicklow, what I've always understood to be midges.
They are still around given this unnatural warm spell of weather we are having.In fact if I leave a window open at night the room is full of them.I don't think I've ever seen that in November before.
Today I was nearly stung by a wasp too:eek:

As regards Mozzies as my new Zealand friend calls them-yes they are here in Ireland.They are in Arklow as recently as last week.He went into great detail about them and compared them to the NZ mozzies and they are pretty much the same.

gerky

I always knew they were resident but I always assumed they'd die off in winter, so you learn something new everyday

MrVostro

I have seen mossies here for the last 10 or so years.
You'll know them when you hear them never mind see them.

Download a mossy wav. When you here that sound buzzing around when you are trying to sleep you'll know what it is.

is that a mosquito?

blackbelt

That is indeed a mosquito.I live in Artane and the crazy bastards were breeding in my back garden in summer 2005 which was very warm.At first I thought they were tadpoles because their larva look very similar and they put their larvae in water.They used a plant pot that had collected some rain water to put their larvae.

I copped on that they were not tadpoles when I saw some suspicious tiny light figures flying in the air in the glare of the evening sun.Needless to say,I empied out the pot and killed the bastards.

They could have been the same breed of mosquitoes which are documented well in Malahide.Malahide only being 4-5 miles away from where I live.

Although,they are not half as bad as those little tiny black bug bastards that you encounter in Portugal when the wind changes direction from North Africa.They are blown in by the wind and stick to you and bite.They look like sand particles.