Midges have been biting in November for the first time since monitoring began seven years ago according to Dr Alison Blackwell, founder of the Scottish Midge Forecast Service.
Dr Blackwell told the BBC that there been no cold spell to kill off the remaining midges from the summer. She commented that, “They will lurk around while it is still warm enough for them to fly and take a blood meal but as soon as we get a couple of hard frosts that will be the end of them.”
The last of the biting midges in Scotland are usually found towards the end of September and into the first week of October. However November 2011 is currently on course to be one of the mildest Novembers since records began. Dr Blackwell predicted that if the mild weather continues we could be seeing midges continuing towards the end of the year. Weather forecasters are however predicting the onset of colder, wintry conditions from later this week or at least by the first week in December.