How to keep midges away

[sbmcd]

This may be useful to those venturing into Midge country, the forecast starts in the spring.

The Scottish Midge Forecast

The Scottish Midge Forecast uses data from biting midge traps and mini-weather stations across Scotland to give you a view of midge levels in Scotland.

www.smidgeup.com

 

[clarinetbcn]

works really well, I road tested it standing on a canal side one summer in the midge hot spot of Lochaber. It really works, a slight repellent effect.
Living and staying in the van for months over the summer here it depends on numbers,
The season is late May to mid `September.

I work on a few multiple approach.
Cram in - as much before the season and after.
Avoid - pick windy spots, coast is good and avoid being outside very early am and later Pm when the sun goes down ( if its not raining )
Midges hate wind or strong sun.
Barrier - Wear smidge and keep a head midge net handy incase of ambush, I always have one in the van and about my person in the season. Nothing worse than the midge dance ha ha.
More barriers - Put midge net in the roof vents and have nets for the windows

Better to be prepared and be able to laugh at the midge dance from a safe place !

We carefully followed each of these points, except Cram in (went for 5 weeks to hike and bike in the north west in August and early September.)

Plus:

No midges above about 600m.
Avon Skin so Soft works amazingly well, was recommended by locals over Smidge, and less expensive. It forms a sticky layer that traps the ones who dare to land on you. They're so tiny and weak that it doesn't take much.
Small USB chargeable electric bug zapper did its job well while sleeping, as the pile of tiny corpses showed in the morning
Citronella candles stop the buggers from wanting to enter the van in the first place when you're present

We had an epic trip.

 

[Craig Morrison]

Avon Skin So Soft and a smoking mosquito coil are the best things Iv found for them and I grew up in the Scottish Highlands

 

[Cali Phillip]

We carefully followed each of these points, except Cram in (went for 5 weeks to hike and bike in the north west in August and early September.)

Plus:

No midges above about 600m.
Avon Skin so Soft works amazingly well, was recommended by locals over Smidge, and less expensive. It forms a sticky layer that traps the ones who dare to land on you. They're so tiny and weak that it doesn't take much.
Small USB chargeable electric bug zapper did its job well while sleeping, as the pile of tiny corpses showed in the morning
Citronella candles stop the buggers from wanting to enter the van in the first place when you're present

We had an epic trip.

View attachment 75897

Interesting, never tried skin so soft to be honest. All my friends and full time climbing guides working in West of Scotland, so midge central use Smidge for midge and tick protection.
Definitely been midged even at 1100m in Scotland, fairly rare given often wind.
Ticks have not been mentioned here but more sinister with lymes disease risk, which is on the rise for sure, 28th of March and had my first tick so Midge and ticks are about again. Some good advice here https://www.mountaineering.scot/safety-and-skills/health-and-hygiene/ticks
Mild winters encourage greater numbers and they appear yesr on year earlier.

 

[sbmcd]

Interesting, never tried skin so soft to be honest. All my friends and full time climbing guides working in West of Scotland, so midge central use Smidge for midge and tick protection.
Definitely been midged even at 1100m in Scotland, fairly rare given often wind.
Ticks have not been mentioned here but more sinister with lymes disease risk, which is on the rise for sure, 28th of March and had my first tick so Midge and ticks are about again. Some good advice here https://www.mountaineering.scot/safety-and-skills/health-and-hygiene/ticks
Mild winters encourage greater numbers and they appear yesr on year earlier.

These are very effective for tick removal and they fit in a card wallet which means you will mostly have one with you. https://www.lifesystems.co.uk/produ...2Ilv9x1yqhmEp3sGhbI7uuCgQ6w5QHHEaAgdkEALw_wcB

 

[Graeme Ferguson]

I read in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph that Marmite keeps the little blighters away. Presumably only the ones that hate it though. Mind you if you were to rub it on like sun cream I can see there being some PC issues.

There may be something in this as a friend of mine swears by brewers yeast tablets and they don’t like to bite him - is this not one of the ingredients of marmite? I’m going to give it a try this year to see if it works outside in the evenings. All the things listed above help with the van: zapper, plug-in mozi, smidge etc as our van left home in the far south (compared to us) and now spends most of its time in the highlands these are all standard kit for us

 

[blondebier]

Further south on the african continent we know an old boy that would spray his arms and legs with some mozi spray called "DOOM". He swore by the stuff and they were in a malaria zone.

Looking at him you'd think he was going to keel over at any minute. I wasn't sure, but tried it a few times and it definitely worked.

He's still kicking at 84!