Midge swarms in the Highlands and across Scotland sparked a shortage of repellent spray Smidge after record-breaking sales
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
SWARMING midges in the Highlands have sparked a shortage of repellent sprays.
There was such huge demand across Scotland, fuelled partly by the surge in staycationers exploring the great outdoors, that supplies of the brand Smidge ran out for the first time.
Its makers sold a record 63,000 cans in June – but halfway through July another 63,000 had already flown off the shelves. Production has since been ramped up.
The shortage coincided with reports of large midge swarms, particularly along the west coast.
Midge expert, Dr Alison Blackwell, said: “It seems like everybody has come to Scotland on staycation at the same rime and needed midge repellent.
“We have never known anything like it before – it has been a record demand and for the first time we ran out. The midges drank us dry. But we managed to get production up, which was at peak anyway at this time, and we have more on the shelves now.
"Midges like wet and warm weather and that is what is predicted ahead."
Dr Blackwell, who runs the official Scottish Midge Forecast, added:"About 7C is the cut-off point for a midge to fly. The only good news I can offer is that midges do not like it hot and dry.
"The numbers fall quickly in hot spells. They only have a 2mm wingspan so they become dehydrated quickly."
Dr Blackwell, director of Dundee-based APS Biocontrol – makers of anti-midge repellent Smidge – has also had large orders for repellent from abroad, including Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Dr Blackwell sent an urgent consignment of 5000 cans of midge repellent to Iceland last year.
So desperate were Icelanders for the protective spray that regulators by-passed the normal requirements for the eco-friendly spray to go on sale.
"Iceland is particularly interesting because they had no midges until about three years ago and now they are really stocking up because they have become such a pest," said Dr Blackwell.
"And in Scotland, last October we had the largest third hatch we have recorded and there were plenty of them about. Their season is becoming longer.
"But I think that with climate change a third hatch may become a regular feature. People will have to get used to it. What was once a rare occurrence is now more commonplace."
Dr Blackwell and her team previously calculated the total number of midges in the Highlands and Islands for the first time.
They estimated there were 139 billion midges in the Highlands and Islands.
Half of them were females – only the female midge bites – but not every one of them makes it to maturity.
