Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Summer Bitings?
Over the last few days of Mediterranean weather, the missus and I have been bitten several time. Not fleas or bedbugs or mosquitoes. Anyone got any ideas or similar tales? Looks a bit like mozzie bite but on, shall we say clothing covered areas....
Tags for Forum Posts: insect bites
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Antoinette on
-
I get bitten all the time...especially in the early evening...pretty sure they are mosquitoes...they make quite a distinctive noise like a high pitched electric buzz
-
-
Did you see my post linked to the tag Philip? I described the reaction from bites I received and attached a picture of some I cought.
-
-
Nick G-T, thanks for the link to your picture, yes I've also been mugged by those same rounded black bugs (as near as I can determine). My garden backs onto Railway Fields - perhaps that's the local reservoir.
-
-
I caught them not coughed them up! I haven't been attacked this year, possibly as my garden isn't as overgrown as when I first moved in. Railway Fields is vegetation heavy but I've spent a bit of time in the Heath and Highgate Woods and haven't had any bites.
-
-
'Blandford fly' or 'black fly' I think (I don't mean the blackfly aphids). The bite typically has a dot of blood in the middle unlike a mosquito bite, and that's certainly my recent experience. The New River could be their breeding ground. Plenty of info out there on t'Interweb.
-
Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
-
Try the tag I've added under your post.
-
-
yes thanks all. Yes Nick I also experienced swelling in the general area, forgot to mention. Were they ever identified?
-
Permalink Reply by JulieB on
-
I've been bitten a lot in the last few weeks, I'm allergic so seem to attract them. I've squished a few mosquitoes but I think there are midgies around too.
We went to Scotland at the beginning of August and I bought Avon skin so soft dry oil as a midgie repellent and it works brilliantly, better than the jungle formula stuff I used to buy.
-
Permalink Reply by Sarah on
-
I was bitten through my calf sleeve on an evening run in Epping Forest a couple of weeks ago. I didn't think anything could bite through such thick fabric so only applied Skin So Soft to exposed areas!
-
Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on
-
I have twice suffered exceptional reactions from bites. In neither case did I see or feel the offending bug but both occasions coincided with the New River (which is close to my garden) being in a terrible state. In August 2014, for reasons that were not evident locally, the river was allowed to become almost stagnant to the extent that fish died and insect life burgeoned.
Again this month a carpet of water weed was allowed to accumulate and remain uncollected for over a week. This too allows insect life to proliferate.
In normal times, Thames Water people appear most days and, in times past, they always raked out any weed and other flotsam that had accumulated by the screen which stops it floating into the tunnel. This is what the scene usually looks like and I suppose that the healthy fish population eats any insect larvae that they find on or in the water.
However, when the water flow is held back too long or when carpets of water weed are permitted to accumulate and remain for days and sometimes weeks, flying insects appear in clouds.
No doubt the growth of the offending water weed is seasonal and is promoted by the warm weather. I suppose that the task of keeping the river free of weed becomes a huge task at certain times of the year. Nevertheless, it seems to me that close attention should be paid to keeping the screens clear so that these great mats of weed don’t accumulate.
The first time I suffered a serious bite, my doctor told me that he saw another case the very next day. That doctor has since retired and when I saw my new doctor he was not aware of a local problem.
Of course, insects are a summer problem but I do wonder whether this has become more of a problem especially in the vicinity of the New River. References to the Blandford fly have appeared on HoL before (see: http://www.harringayonline.com/forum/topics/ferocious-biting-insects).
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
