Whoever said “nothing is certain only death and taxes” never holidayed in Scotland. For one more thing is all but guaranteed: an encounter with the minuscule but menacing Highland midge. After a manic May but less bitey-June, today scientists from the Scottish Midge Forecast have predicted several locations across the Highlands and Islands are once again about to become midge minefields.
Here’s all you need to know about the tiny terrors and where you’re most likely to find them. Is a midge a Scottish mosquito? While midges have similar hobbies and interests to their less mild-mannered mossie friends (see: blood sucking and biting), the Highland midge (culicoides impunctatus), found throughout the UK, northern Europe, and even parts of China, is not actually a mosquito and does not spread disease such as malaria. However, like a mosquito, a midge’s bite will almost certainly cause itchiness and irritation.
Are there midge hot spots? Yes, when conditions are optimal some places see more midge masses than others. The is created using data collected from biting midge traps and mini-weather stations dotted across the country. Along with additional weather forecast data, scientists generate a “big picture” of midge levels across Scotland at any given time.
“It’s quite commonly known that the west coast of Scotland is more of a midge hot spot than the east, but in reality there are midges everywhere. It’s just that when conditions are optimal for them, we see a .
