A New Weapon in the Fight against the Scottish Midge

Smidge ForecastFriday 20th May sees the relaunch of the Scottish Midge Forecast; in it’s sixth year now!!  The system uses a complex set of algorithms to predict midge activity at sites across Scotland, producing a 7-day forecast for each site of interest, chosen by visitors to the site through a familiar Google mapping interface.

As well as the online version of the Midge Forecast, the data is presented in a number of national newspapers and also, is available as an iPhone app for those out and about.

Predator Dynamic Midge & Mosquito TrapCritical to the success of the Midge Forecast is verification and modification of the model outputs by live data; both weather data collected by mini weather stations and midge data, collected by a network of 10 brave volunteers covering the length and breadth of the country.  For 2011 we are using Scotland’s newest and most powerful midge trap for our surveillance; the Predator Dynamic Midge and Mosquito Trap.   The Predator is a stand-alone trap, powered by propane.  It combines a range of cues to maximise the attractiveness of the machine to blood-seeking midges.  These include carbon dioxide and host odour, movement in the form of flashing LED’s, light cues, heat and moisture.  Once midges are drawn close to the trap, they are either sucked inside where they are collected in tray of water, or they are caught on a sticky glueboard on the outside of the trap.  During trials in 2010, a single Predator trap collected 800,000 midges over a five-day period.

The Predator is perfect for both the small garden and the larger golf green or outdoor event and both traps and advice on their use can be provided by the team behind the Midge Forecast, who have 20 years experience of biting insect behaviour, ecology and control.  To find out more, click the link below.
Predator Info

May 20, 2011 | Filed Under APS, Forecast, Midge traps, News, midges, scotland

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