Midge
(Culicoides impunctatus)
We are going to be fair to the Highland midge, which admittedly is a difficult task.
Let us begin with the case for the prosecution.
No creature persecutes humans (and cattle, sheep and deer) more relentlessly in Scotland. Attracted by the carbon dioxide in our breath, midges swarm around us by the thousand and attack without mercy.
First, they tear through our skin with mouth parts shaped like a pair of saws, then they use a substance in their saliva to stop our blood clotting and take a good long drink. A midge will gorge itself on its victim’s blood for up to five full minutes if undisturbed.
One report has claimed that a fifth of forestry working days in Scotland are lost to midges, and another said the tiny vampires cost our tourist industry £268million pounds a year by deterring visitors.
Damning case, isn’t it? Perhaps. But while we’re here, let’s just follow due process and hear from the defence.
So you don’t like midges? Understandable. But do you like bats? Swallows? Swifts? Dragonfly? Those are just some of the species, which also include fish and flesh-eating plants, which need midges for food.
Only half of midges (the females) ever bite us. The males suck on plants. And the females are only trying to be good mothers: they need the protein from our blood to help their eggs grow.
Midges are no threat to human health, although the anti-clotting substance they use does cause irritation.
And it is often possible to avoid them. Their wingspan is only 2mm so they can’t fly when the wind is more than 6mph, and they never go into houses or buildings.
So what’s your verdict, members of the jury?
Thought so. But regardless, we are stuck with the midge.
Fascinating fact:
It is estimated that up to 180 trillion midges can be active in Scotland at once.
There are 35 species of biting midge in Scotland. They like humid, mild, still, cloudy conditions and are prevalent from late spring until late summer. They are most active just before dawn and at sunset but can bite at any time of day.
Midge eggs hatch into larvae in boggy soil, become pupae in winter and take wing in late spring. The males emerges in early May and the females a week or so later. The two sexes mate in summer, and the males then die off.
The females emerge with enough fat reserves to mature their first batch of eggs, but they need a blood meal to produce more young. They may have up to three batches of eggs.
Some people thought that the exceptionally cold winter of 2010 would mean fewer midges in 2011, but no. Their numbers increased, probably because after the hard winter there were fewer bats and birds to prey on them. There really is no escape.
Did you know
Queen Victoria was once attacked by a midge cloud at Balmoral, and permitted smoking inside the castle to try to deter them.