Midges mid June Scotland this year

[Mouse1903]

I've used all the repellents including Smidge and to be blunt they are all crap

[prog99]

I’ve used vitamin b patches before as an experiment and it was pretty interesting. They still swarmed but never bit me but others who didn’t use them were used as target practice.
I really should buy some more and have another go.

[bar72]

teaspoon a day of Apple Cider Vinegar, taken in a glass of water, 3 days before you head off reduces them quite a bit on me. Acidity levels must be higher in my sweat, keeping them away from me ;

[Low Level Walker]

This is an interesting thread. Would be interesting to see if someone came up with a definitive solution

On that note, did anyone see the program on BBC Scotland Saturday night (name escapes me) about them?

Certainly an interesting program, but after it both the wife and I were feeling all itchy, scratchy and clawy. Jeez, even seeing them for that length of time creates that in me

[Caberfeidh]

This one? Gives me the horrors...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06jh4ss/the-secret-life-of-midges

[matt_outandabout]

Another few thoughts:

- Do you all have a sprig of crushed Bog Myrtle - this is a natural midge repellant.

- if midges are such a pain, how come they don't get mentioned in historic writing? Old Rabbie Burns moaned about everything and anything, but doesn't mention midges. Does this mean that something has changed environmentally to make them worse than they have been before? Are our diets different? etc...

[1Magnus]

- if midges are such a pain, how come they don't get mentioned in historic writing? Old Rabbie Burns moaned about everything and anything, but doesn't mention midges. Does this mean that something has changed environmentally to make them worse than they have been before? Are our diets different? etc...

Areas which are easy for us to travel to these days were barely populated in earlier times, for the reasons discussed on this forum thread. The few people who were condemned to living in those dire areas were usually not the ones privileged enough to leave a historical record. Also, the people who had to live in these areas may not really ever have left them, and they may well have thought that it's normal to have midges and keds crawling all over you. (I work on medieval literature).