Epic mountains, beautiful lochs, dramatic glens, and thickly wooded forests are all signature landscapes of the Scottish Highlands. With such spectacular scenery, it’s no surprise that Scotland attracts outdoor adventurers of every ilk, from road trippers and vanlifers to campers, hillwalkers, and backpackers.
The Highlands are also home to many magnificent species of wildlife – think majestic stags, cute highland coos, soaring eagles, and all that other stuff you tend to find depicted on shortbread tins. Unfortunately, the local fauna also includes several species of biting insects. Colloquially known as ‘wee beasties’, this comprises the infamous midge, as well as ticks, kegs, and clegs. These little biters are usually at their peak in the summer months, from May through to September, which also happens to be prime tourist season. And for visitors who are uninitiated or unprepared, encountering them can range from the slightly irritating to the positively traumatic.
Let’s not be melodramatic though. Usually, midges and their like are nothing more than a nuisance. But it is important to ensure that bites or stings don’t get infected, as this can really ruin an outdoor adventure. More serious risks to be aware of include the possible transmission of diseases like Lyme disease. So, it’s well worth being prepared when you’re enjoying Scotland’s great outdoors – which is precisely why we’ve put together this essential guide.
Veteran visitors to the Scottish Highlands in the summer months will know all about the horrors of midges. For the uninitiated, midges are tiny, flying, biting insects that are the scourge of hillwalkers, backpackers, and wild campers. The most troublesome species is the highland midge, Culicoides impunctatus. They’re no joke. In fact, it is estimated that midges cost the Scottish tourist industry up to £268 million a year in lost visits.
Unless you’ve experienced them, it’s hard to describe just how aggravating, infuriating, and irritating a cloud of midges can be. They swarm aggressively during the summer months, particularly in the early morning and late evening. If they’re out in force, they will try to bite you anywhere and everywhere, landing on any patch of exposed or bare skin, as well as getting in your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Midge season typically lasts from mid-May to early September. When it comes to midges, wetter is better (from the midges’ point of view at least). Those years when Scotland endures wetter-than-average spring or summers tend to be when midges reach peak numbers. That’s because midges thrive in damp conditions, being particularly prevalent in the boggy areas of the Highlands and western Scotland.
It’s impossible to know precisely when or where they’ll be at their worst, but the handy Scottish Midge Forecast is a good predictor of midge levels across Scotland, scoring different areas of the country on a scale of one to five (one being largely midge-free, five being hell on Earth).
Midge bites usually cause small red dots or lumps on your skin. They can be infuriatingly itchy and can sometimes swell alarmingly, due to the histamine present in their saliva. However, midges do not transmit diseases to humans (a small mercy at least).
The best way to deal with them is to avoid being outside around dawn and dusk, when they are at their most active. Midges don’t like bright sunshine or breezy, exposed locations either. And they’re not good flyers, so a modest breeze (wind speeds of 5 or 6 mph plus) is often ample protection – a good reason to get up high in the hills and mountains.
Other tactics are to keep moving, since you can normally walk faster than they can fly. They also prefer dark clothes, so dress ‘light and bright’. Lastly, cover all exposed skin, consider carrying a midge head net, and wear a proven insect repellent. Smidge and Jungle Formula are both popular brands, while others swear by Avon Skin So Soft.
If you’re camping, lighting mosquito coils can be an effective deterrent, as can citronella or lavender candles. There are also portable, battery-powered repelling devices available, which emit ultrasonic waves and scents in order to deter midges. Lastly, always keep the mesh doors of your tent zipped up to prevent too many midges from getting inside.
Ticks are small, spider-like arachnids that – unlike midges – are a hidden menace. The smallest are the size of a poppy seed and difficult to see. They’re present throughout the UK and usually feed on sheep, deer, squirrels, and birds – so if these animals are around, there are likely to be ticks too. Ticks are mostly active from March to October, but you can pick up a tick at any time of year.
They lie in wait in patches of woodland, moorland, grassland, or in areas of bracken and bilberry, ‘questing’ with their front legs held aloft to attach themselves to your skin or clothing. Once they’re on your body, they crawl around until they find a place to ‘dig in’. They’ll then stay there for a day or two before falling off. Their bites are not usually painful, so you may not realize you've been bitten straight away. They bury their heads into the skin to feed, gradually getting bigger as they fill with blood. Yuck.
You can guard against ticks by avoiding walking through long grass or bracken and wearing trousers, long socks, and boots. Tuck your trousers into your socks, apply insect repellent and perhaps carry a lint roller to run over your clothing occasionally, or wear light clothing to enable you to spot them more easily. Check children and dogs too. Change your clothing as soon as you can after your walk. For the next few days, check your body thoroughly when you’re in the shower or getting dressed, since ticks tend to seek out moist, warm areas of the body, often in folds of skin.
If you’re out walking, it’s generally a good idea not to sit down in long grass – look for a rock instead. Also be extra careful if you put your rucksack down, and constantly check (and brush) yourself down throughout the day.
The major hazard of ticks is that they can sometimes carry potentially serious infections such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis. This means they should be removed as soon as possible if you find one attached to your skin. Use a specialist removal tool (available online or from outdoor and pet shops) such as a pair of fine-tipped tick tweezers, a tick card, or a tick twister. Grip the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull steadily away from the skin, without crushing the tick. Clean the skin after removal and apply an antiseptic cream.
Common symptoms of a tick bite can include a raised red lump, swelling, and itchiness. If you’ve been bitten by a tick, be vigilant for symptoms of Lyme disease. The most obvious sign is a ‘bull’s eye’ ring around the bite, though not everybody gets this rash. If you’re experiencing flu-like symptoms and suspect it may be related to a tick bite, contact your GP. A course of antibiotics should clear the infection.
Tick-borne encephalitis is very uncommon in the UK, with only a handful of confirmed cases. It has similar symptoms to meningitis, like severe headaches, a stiff neck, and pain looking at bright lights. Other neurological symptoms can also develop, which may include seizures, sudden confusion or change in behaviour, weakness or loss of movement in arms and legs, and facial dropping, change in vision or slurred speech.
Most readers will probably know these flying pests as horseflies or deerflies, though many Scots call them clegs. Unfortunately, they’re not unique to Scotland – there are dozens of species across the UK.
Up close, they are actually rather striking insects, with patterned wings and big, iridescent eyes. Don’t let them get too close though, because if they bite you, it really hurts. That’s because clegs have powerful mandibles or jaws, designed to get through thick horse hide. This means they can bite through light clothing, including a cotton T-shirt. Unlike mosquitoes, clegs don’t inject an anaesthetic before they bite you either. And they tend to leave an open bleeding wound, which can be very susceptible to infection and even cellulitis. If this sets in, then antibiotics can be required.
Clegs can be annoyingly stealthy – you don’t always hear or feel them landing on you. This means that constant vigilance is required. Luckily, they only like to fly in bright, sunny weather, generally avoiding dark or shady areas. They’re also inactive at night. Most species tend to live near ponds, rivers and streams. Farmland is a hotspot too, as they are attracted to cattle and horses.
A good tip is to wear long sleeves and trousers, as they particularly like to bite humans on bare legs (especially on the ankles and behind the knees), as well as on the wrists and occasionally on the back of the neck.
Keds are the name commonly given to the insects properly known as louse flies or Hippoboscidae, by Scottish hikers who spend a lot of time walking on boggy moorland and mountain. They generally appear later in the year than the other beasties listed here, typically cropping up from late summer into autumn.
If you’ve never encountered these wee beasties, you’re one of the lucky ones. Though they’re nowhere near as infamous as some of Scotland’s other menaces like midges or ticks, keds can make your skin crawl.
In the wild, when they land on a host species (usually sheep or deer), they shed their wings and then burrow down through the fleece or fur in search of a blood meal. This means they have an unnerving tendency to land in human hair and crawl around in it too, sometimes for several minutes. They rarely bite, but if they do the bites can be itchy and painful, which can sometimes lead to dermatitis. There are also ongoing studies into whether – like ticks – they can be a vector for Lyme disease, so it’s worth being wary.
Since they love to land in hair, it’s a good idea to wear a hat, cap or BUFF to help ward them off, especially when walking near boggy wetland or through dense woodland and forest. If you have long hair, tie it up or tie it back.
Keds are unpleasant little things. Their bodies are flat, shiny and smooth, and they also have very grippy, muscular legs with claw-like hooks. This means they’re almost impossible to swat or brush off. Instead, you usually have to pinch them between your finger and thumb to remove them. Be warned – they’re wriggly and surprisingly robust too, which just adds to the general ick factor.
Although it’s tempting to wear shorts and T-shirts in warmer weather, this inevitably leaves more skin exposed. So, you might want to stick to long sleeved base layers and walking trousers to guard against bites and stings from all these wee beasties. Similarly, wearing boots and long socks will provide more ankle protection than low-cut walking shoes or sandals. You can still wear lightweight, wicking fabrics to ensure you remain cool and comfortable in hot weather.
Apply insect repellent to exposed skin before you head out, topping up throughout the day as required. Repellents that contain at least 30% DEET (diethyltoluamide) are generally considered to be most effective, but other types that rely on natural oils like citronella are also popular. Heavily perfumed products like scents, aftershaves, soaps, shampoos and deodorants often seem to attract insects, so leave these out of your morning beauty routine if you’re going walking!
Paracetamol or ibuprofen can help reduce the pain of any bite (but check for allergies first). For itching, ask a pharmacist about antihistamine tablets or creams like crotamiton or hydrocortisone. Regular application of a cold compress or ice pack can help to reduce swelling.
Contact your GP or call NHS Direct on 111 if you've been bitten or stung near your eyes or in your mouth or throat. Monitor all other bites and stings and seek help if there is no improvement within a few days or if your symptoms get worse. Be vigilant for signs of infection such as increasing redness or swelling, pus leaking from the wound, and general feverish or flu-like symptoms, including swollen glands.
You should dial 999 for an ambulance immediately if you or someone else has been bitten and shows symptoms of anaphylaxis, such as wheezing or difficulty breathing, a swollen face or throat, feeling sick or vomiting, a fast heart rate, dizziness or feeling faint, difficulty swallowing or loss of consciousness.
Hopefully, none of this will put you off visiting Scotland in summer. Because it would be a shame to miss out on what Scotland has to offer just for fear of a few wee beasties. And let’s not forget that ultimately, the fact we share the great outdoors with innumerable other creatures, great and small, is a good thing in environmental terms – it’s all part of Scotland’s rich biodiversity.
Besides, if you heed the advice given above, it’s easy enough to manage the midges, as well as these other little critters. Obviously, we can’t promise you won’t get midged at least once, bitten by a ked or a cleg, or that you won’t pick up a tick – but go prepared and you’ll certainly minimise the chances of letting a run-in with the midgies or an occasional tick encounter ruin your adventures.
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