Ye olde midge

[Scottishwanderer]

I seem to come of quite bad with midge bites, after yesterday's outing and getting bit to pieces and my arms swelling up quite a lot which on the good side i know look like i have well muscled arms on the negative side only one arm looks like this, i know have one muscular looking arm and one normal arm which is not a good look for a teenage guy who is single.

Is there anything i can use in the woods apart from smoke to alleviate the problem?

I do subscribe to the " Grow a pair" ideology my dad always recomends and hope to get immunity to it but after a whole summer it's not happening.

I'm usually in extremely dense pine forest so as you can imagine they are horrendous.

 

[Barn Owl]

I never used to be bothered by them but they're attracted to me now.

The only repellant I've tried and use is 'nordic summer', comes in a tin like boot polish.
Costs around eight quid but lasts for yonks.

I think another good one is autosan?

I have a midge head net and a jacket made of the same material,jacket costs around fifteen pounds.

 

[Scottishwanderer]

I never used to be bothered by them but they're attracted to me now.

The only repellant I've tried and use is 'nordic summer', comes in a tin like boot polish.
Costs around eight quid but lasts for yonks.

I think another good one is autosan?

I have a midge head net and a jacket made of the same material,jacket costs around fifteen pounds.

Thanks brother

My problem is that i have no money to spend on bushy stuff, so i'm wanting to find out what the Scottish folks 5000 years ago were using sort of thing, there must be something in the woods that was used to get rid of em.

If there isn't then i'd prefer to just put up with it and hope immunity comes.

 

[Nagual]

Have a nosey at this review me which covers Avon, Nordic Summer, Autan and Smidge and this one by JF where he talks about Bug-Gerroff.

 

[gsfgaz]

i use the tesco's own make stuff , it,s really good , it,s in a yellow can

 

[Nagual]

Thanks brother

My problem is that i have no money to spend on bushy stuff, so i'm wanting to find out what the Scottish folks 5000 years ago were using sort of thing, there must be something in the woods that was used to get rid of em.

If there isn't then i'd prefer to just put up with it and hope immunity comes.

Find someone else who the prefer and hang about with them...

Or try getting Bog Mertyl and hanging it around yourself, it is said that it works. Bog Mertyl by itself doesn't smell too bad, and can be found quite commonly.

 

[Scottishwanderer]

Thanks folks.

If anyone has seen the film "the way back" you know the scene where the russians are being plauged by midgies/ mozzys and the locals are not because the are have that thing round there kneck?

 

[Toddy]

The traditional recipe is mugwort, melissa and myrtle.

The mugwort discourages them, the melissa disguises your scent (top notes) and the myrtle adds the base notes.

All three are weeds, but might not all grow in your particular area. The bog myrtle doesn't grow near me, well it didn't until I planted it in the garden The other two are common as muck around here.
Basically you make a stong 'tea' of the three of them and wipe yourself down with it.
Nothing is perfect, absolutely nothing, but this is at least as good as 'most' of the commercial additives.

The biggest issue with the traditional use is that it's actually better burned and the smoke kind of scents your skin and clothing. Not a good idea in this modern age since the mugwort apparantly smells like the best hash They're really smudges. Nordic summer is just a smudge made into a paste......I'm wondering about our own plants ??

Best thing I've ever found is a Beaton's midgie jacket that said, a £2.99 headnet is a great thing when it's all you've got

cheers,
Toddy