Beware! The midges are here... two weeks early

SCOTLAND’S midges are on the march earlier than normal this year as an expert warns climate change is boosting the numbers of the biting beasties.

Dr Alison Blackwell says the first hatch of the season has already begun – a full two weeks before the official Scottish Midge Forecast she runs starts providing activity updates.

The bite-mare scenario does not bode well for the Scottish tourism industry which is estimated to lose £286 million a year because of the impact of the insects – and that is based on their traditional five-month long season.

A previous study found many tourists said they would not return to Scotland at the same time of year after experiencing the country’s midge menace.

Last summer was the worst on record for swarms of midges and they are now emerging in large numbers in the Highlands. Dr Blackwell said: ‘Midges like warm and wet weather and that is exactly what climate change is producing in Scotland

‘The midge season is getting longer. We have already had reports of them about. We would not normally have expected to see them in large numbers until the end of the month.’

Dr Blackwell said the numbers recorded last summer were 20 per cent up on the previous year and only a heatwave offers hope of some respite.

She said: They have survived all kinds of conditions including an Ice Age. There are few things in life as certain as death, taxes and midges. But they do not like it hot and dry. Numbers fall quickly in hot spells.’