The Midge in Winter

Oliverdog

We've all been lamenting the loss of so many birds and other small animals to this very cold winter, which continues here with sharp frosts every night this week.

But what of the humble midge (or midget, as some here insist on calling it) ? This creature is a real (and sometimes literal) pain in the ar$e during the summer months in this part of the country, and I was sort of hoping that their numbers might have been adversely affected by the cold.

As I'm told that it's the pregnant female that does all the biting, it might be nice to know that the winter has frozen the balls off some of the males.

Any bug experts out there ?

Angus Og

I'm no expert, but I know that they do survive. They seem to be out here already. My brother is quite the expert, I'll ask him.

Midge are all right. They seem to have survived the cold.

johngalway

My hope is that the cold weather knocked the snot out of the little feckers. My money, unfortunately, would be on them proving quite resilient.

Oliverdog

We used to spend a lot of holidays walking in the West of Scotland, and it is a fact that the West Highland Midge is the second reason (after the weather) given by tourists for not going to the area. Ours are bad enough, but these are in a class of their own. You need to walk around with a net over your head sometimes, and who needs that ?
Some of the hotels have lately been lashing out on midge machines from the USA and Canada, which emit carbon dioxide and fool the midges (which are not very bright) into thinking they are attacking a cow or a human being. They then get sucked in by a vacuum cleaner motor and trapped in a muslin bag.
One hotel then sticks the bags in the freezer, then mixes the millions of midges in with fat; the salmon fishermen then use this as ground bait - pure protein. I don't know if these enterprising Scotsmen charge for this stuff !

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Thankfully (?) their larval stage can survive extremely cold weather. (If you ever visit Iceland in Summer you will see thick clouds of them and the Winter there is much worse than what we have had). Midges are vital food for many birds. If their numbers were reduced we would probably have a very poor breeding seaon for many of our birds.

marlin vs

They were at the end of my garden in the sun on Saturday.:mad:

Oliverdog

Kyleigh Putrid Asteroid wrote: »

Thankfully (?) their larval stage can survive extremely cold weather. (If you ever visit Iceland in Summer you will see thick clouds of them and the Winter there is much worse than what we have had). Midges are vital food for many birds. If their numbers were reduced we would probably have a very poor breeding seaon for many of our birds.

I should have thought of this - Scotland's winters too are much colder than the worst we see here.

This begs the question - how do we attract midge-eating birds to our bogland garden ?

This would be too much to hope for, I suppose.

Graces7

They are alive and thriving.

In this new place, we are bringing in the generous droppings left by a donkey that grazed here last year.

The field we have is bog; sphagnum moss in great abundance.

And they are hatching out every time the sun comes out. Rising in clouds.

Wondering if the same will be true of ticks? we are higher up here and only saw one on the cats last winter.

No need to ask re slugs of course.

Birds in abundance though.

Alun

I seems to be that the further north you get, and thus the colder it gets, the nastier the midges become. Like Srameen said the Icelandic ones are particularly plentiful and vicious.

Bats eat prodigious numbers of midges too .. I can't remember the exact numbers but I seem to recall a figure of 3,000 midges a night even for a small bat like a pipistrelle.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Oliverdog wrote: »

This begs the question - how do we attract midge-eating birds to our bogland garden ?(

In effect you can't. But, Birds (and Bats of course) will feed on midges and will come if the food supply is there. You could put plenty of nest boxes and bat boxes up to attract a wide variety of birds but generally if the environment suits them they will come. Look at the wider picture. What in the area might prevent birds or bats finding it attractive?

They are on the wing in almost every shaft of sunlight here at the moment. I personally rarely get bitten even though I would be around them most days. A collegue gets covered in bites after a few minutes despite using repellant.

Alun: The reason midges are more severe in Northern regions is to do with the shorter Summer and taking full advantage of daylight hours/sunshine when it is available. We would have midges hatching almost all year round while in Iceland, Finalnd, etc they hatch during a much more restricted period during the Summer.

Graces7

Clouds of them out this afternoon in the sun. And they bite me also .

Alun

Only slightly OT, and I'd always assumed it was another one of those Urban Myths propagated by the Internet, but there's some stuff you can get from Avon called Skin so Soft Dry Oil Body Spray that seems to work wonders at keeping the midges at bay, at least it works for both me and the missus.

Supposedly the Royal Marines guarding a nuclear submarine base in Scotland discovered it by accident when one of the female soldiers seemed to be the only one not getting bitten. It smells a bit girly, but it's a small price to pay. Only snag is you'll have to find an Avon Lady to get it from and they're a bit difficult to pin down.

Oliverdog

I've heard this and there's no doubt that it works for some. Last summer, I was working in the garden smothered in Jungle Formula, and came inside with a top lip like Homer Simpson.

johngalway

Repel 100 is the only thing that works for me in this part of the world, midges were licking skin so soft, Autan, and jungle formula off me!

Oliverdog

Well so far, although we have again been bathed in warm sunshine (when out of the wind) we've seen no midges, just the odd cloud of gnats.

For the first time, and I know off topic, I saw one of the Killarney White-Tailed Eagles pass overhead at Dooks Golf Links en route to the Glenbeigh hills. Magnificent to see.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A dab of Jeyes Fluid behind the ear, or on the brim of a hat, works wonders at keeping all flying pests at bay. Keeps a lot of people at bay too.

Oliverdog

Ha! And the fear of being mistaken for the toilet attendant. :eek:

magicbastarder

midges aside, are there (m)any 'alien' species which had been gaining a foothold here (helped by the recent mild winters) which will have taken a knock back as a result of the recent weather?
i have seen some sorry looking yuccas...

mountainy man

i live in a mountain bog area in sligo and have tried many repelants and stuff like a drop of cider vinegar a day amongst autan and others and found that citronella oil works for me plus it has a lovely smell , i rub it on everywhere exposed but horses for courses its whatever works for you keep experementing

Stinicker

Got attacked this evening for the first time by midges in my garden when Midge activity every other year would have started about a month and a half ago. I hope we get more harsh winters as it definitely had an effect on the buggers. I got Avon Skin so Soft and it does work, as soon as the attack started I retreated inside, sprayed it on me and went outside with no more attacks!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The life cycle of Midges is such that hard Winters do not have an adverse affect on them. Check out the midge numbers in northern European countries.

johngalway

They're back with a vengeance. Still, much later than last year.

Smartypantsdig

i was eaten alive by them in Mayo last week. I find that citronella helps to keep them at bay for a time though.