Season

The Midge Season

Many tourists to Scotland leave with the impression that the country is permanently under seige from the midge menace. That's not true, midges are seasonal. Unfortunately their peak season coincides almost exactly with the peak tourist season!

When Is The Midge Season?

As with most things connected with the seasons in Scotland, that of te midge is not precise. Midges of various species begin to appear in Scotland around April and continue to be present until October. However at the start and finish of the season the midges around tend not to be the most troublesome biters.

The worst problems begin in June. This is when the infamous Highland Biting Midge - the worst of several biting species - starts to appear. The Highland Biting Midge remains active for about three months, numbers dwindling towards the end of August. Unfrotunately i's not restricted purely to the Highlands.

There are other species of Scottish midge that also bite. for example the Garden Midge. This has a longer season, lasting until October, however although it does bite it's not as much of a problem as its Highland counterpart.

There have been reports that the season is getting longer, with the biting midge becoming active earlier, sometimes during the last fortnight in May. This might be a side effect of global warming and the general increase in Scottish temperatures. If this trend continues then the midge menace can only get worse. On the plus side, they don't like the weather too hot so midsummers could be slightly better for us humans.

This year (2007) I've heard anecdotal evidence that the midge season has definitely started earlier in some areas.