Fed up with clouds of midges? REMEDY AGAINST BITES Soft & Fresh Dry Oil Body Spray (£2; avonshop.co.uk), provides an oily protective layer. In fact, its so effective that Royal Marine soldiers buy it in bulk. Also, apparently, it was widely applied, during the filming of Braveheart, in Scotland, (where midge numbers are unparalleled anywhere else in the UK). WHO ARE MIDGE PREDATORS? What eats them? Midges are a banquet for insect-eating birds; also damsel flies and dragonflies enjoy them and, of course bats eat between 3,000 to 6,000 of them every single night. Bats keep flying insects under control at night. SO, IF THERE ARE PREDATORS, WHY ARENT THEY GETTING EATEN? Part of the answer lies in the season. Some insect-eating bird species migrate to warmer climes during Winter. As for damselflies and dragonflies, who also eat midges, they need to warm up, to be able to fly. Bats, on the other hand, (an animal that eats so many midges, (as mentioned above), enter hibernation in September and stay there until the weather warms up. Whenever they detect a temperature increase though, they will check out food availability (flying insects), leaving their hibernation spots (caves, tunnels, cellars, etc). Alas, warm days are seldomly had in Winter! So then .... removing all these predators from the equation, provides us a huge picture of why we have so many midges right now. But, this is only part of the story. Why there should be so many this year is a mystery to me. FEMALE MIDGE Only the female midge bites us and sucks our blood. This is done by, cutting into our skin and injecting an anticoagulant. It is this chemical that causes us irritation. Perhaps then, the females stand a better chance at surviving this cold weather - as the food is warm. Also, perhaps, (Im guessing now), that the midges we are seeing are all female, and thats why theyre able to survive, on a diet of blood. A chilling thought? Naaaah! Not really. Just buy some of the oil in the ad, or from your Avon rep, (its cheap enough) and that will protect you. Happy Xmas Jeanette FLAG Nature Rep. for Ferry Lane Estate
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 12:58:12 +0000