Will the hard winter impact on this season’s midge population?
Yesterday’s Times Newspaper reported on the possible impact of the hard winter on this season’s midge population; an interview with Dr Alison Blackwell of Advanced Pest Solutions Ltd. Midges overwinter as larvae, just a few centimetres below the soil surface and are susceptible to ground frosts. However, we’ll have to wait until the Spring to find out if there has been any effect. Click here for the full story and to find out more about how we predict midge activity, visit the Scottish Midge Forecast.
EcoGuard Extreme Product Feedback
We are currently collecting feedback on the Saltidin-based insect repellents available at the Midge Forecast Shop. EcoGuard Xtreme is proving to be popular, with comments including:
“Ecoguard Extreme insect repellent - it was excellent. Wild camping in Scotland in late July and not one midge bite (though engulfed in midge swarms)”
and….
“Great product - I’ve been hill walking in Scotland for years and this was an excellent solution to the “midge problem”
EcoGuard Xtreme vs 50% DEET
Saltidin-based EcoGuard Xtreme has been designed to be an effective biting insect repellent, which is gentle on the skin and without the downsides of some other repellents such as being harmful to plastics etc. It is non-toxic, long-lasting, not sticky and is suitable for use on children over the age of two.
The product contains 20% Saltidin (also known as Icaridin) and in laboratory trials with mosquitoes has proved to be at least as effective as 50% DEET, if not better. In trials carried out in Edinburgh with laboratory-reared Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, cages of 30 unfed insects were offered two “attractant” targets to land on; one treated with either EcoGuard Xtreme repellent formulation or 50% DEET, and the other left blank as a control. Mosquito landing behaviour was recorded every 30 seconds for 10 minutes, at 2 hour intervals up until 6 hours (using a different batch of mosquitoes for each observation period).
Whilst the 2 repellents performed similarly for the first 4 hours of investigation, by 6 hours the EcoGuard Xtreme formulation statistically out-per
formed 50% DEET.
EcoGuard Xtreme and will provide good, long-lasting protection faced with the greatest of biting insect attacks. It can be purchased online at the Midge Forecast Shop.
Midge Forecast Shop Discounts
The Midge Forecast Shop is currently offering all new customers a discount of £2 on orders of >£15 (including tax and Shipping). Key products featured include:
EcoGuard Midge Repellent, which has been specially formulated for protection against the Scottish biting midge and rigorously field tested in Scotland.
Attractants (octenol) for biting midge traps, including the 
Midgeater. These attractants are essential to maximise a trap’s performance through synergising the attractiveness of carbon dioxide released from it and hence, mimicing a normal, mammalian bloodmeal host for a midge.
New protective ‘Original Bug Shirts’. Designed in Canada (where mosquit
oes and biting flies are a national menace), the Original Bug Shirt is designed to protect against biting insects, including midges, mosquitoes, black flies and clegs.
To benefit from this discount, just enter the code SMF2207N at the final Google Checkout after visiting the Midge Forecast Shop.
Scottish Midge Forecast 18th-19th 2009 (STV)
New Research to tackle Varroa Mites
Advanced Pest Solutions Ltd (APS), the company behind the Scottish Midge Forecast has teamed up with the Moredun Research Institute (MRI), Edinburgh for a project investigating novel control of the Varroa mite, considered to be of major importance to bee health. Significant mite populations can lead to the death of a honey-bee colony and in North America may be a contributing factor towards Colony Collapse Disorder in which worker bees dramatically disappear from a colony.
Honeybees pollinate over 90 commercial crops, which equates to about one-third of the human diet, 
with pollination responsible for $15 billion in added crop value. In England alone, this is estimated at £120m (Defra). The exact extent of the contribution of Varroa mites to overall bee health is still not fully understood but it is clear that these are some of the most serious and economically-damaging ecotoparasites of honey bees and that the current methods of management are not providing an adequate effect to avoid substantial losses.
Funded by Genecom’s Orphans Fund, APS and MRI are identifying targets within Varroa mites that can be targeted with a novel, environmentally-acceptable technology under development by APS.
We are keen to hear from any beekeepers in the UK who would be willing to provide us with drone brood from which to isolate mite; please contact us if you think you might be able to help
EcoGuard Midge Repellent Field Trial - an update
APS is currently busy on the banks of Loch Laggan carrying out field trials of the new EcoGuard Midge Repellent; the active ingredient is Saltidin®, the sponsors of the Scottish Midge Forecast.
Saltidin® is designed to be an effective biting insect repellent, which is gentle on the skin and without the downsides of some other repellents such as being harmful to plastics etc. It is non-toxic, long-lasting, not sticky and is suitable for use on children over the age of two.
Following encouraging laboratory studies of EcoGuard with biting midges, the current field trials involve ‘volunteers’ exposing their repellent-treated forearms at regular time periods throughout the evening with the aim of determining both the efficacy and longevity of the product. Counts are made of the numbers of midges both landing on- and attempting to feed on the volunteer’s arm.
The image below clearly shows the level of protection provided by the product! EcoGuard Midge Repellent can be purchased online at the Midge Forecast Shop.
Photographs © Alan Smith, 2008
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- Will the hard winter impact on this season’s midge population?
- EcoGuard Extreme Product Feedback
- EcoGuard Xtreme vs 50% DEET
- EcoGuard Midge Repellent Performs Well
- Midge Forecast Shop Discounts
- Scottish Midge Forecast 18th-19th 2009 (STV)
- New Research to tackle Varroa Mites
- First TV Broadcast of the Scottish Midge Forecast (STV 2/6/09)
- News Release: Scottish Midge Forecast launches on STV
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- Advanced Pest Solutions - Creator of the Midge Forecast
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- Saltidin - The Midge Forecast sponsor for 2009
