Midges

Thought my lens was buggered there. On the right of this shot there's hundreds of tiny black specs [BIG version] and I thought at first it was dust when I was zoomed in. Turns out I'd caught a few of the millions of midges that were clouding the skies tonight.

Quote: "Apparently there are nearly 40 species of biting midge in Scotland but only five of these are thought to regularly feed on people." I hope I never come across any of those five.

I'm suffering now for tonight's walk 'cause of those blood suckers (not the people eaters thankfully); midge bites and nettle stings (knelt on some trying to get a shot in through the entrance of the old doo'cot here) are combining to make me itch and scratch as I type this.

It's funny, but I didn't have any itches, or wasn't aware of the urge to have a good old scratch, until I saw them again in this picture. But the more I type about them, the lousier I feel... the more my skin's crawling. Scratch... scratch...

The joys of summer in Scotland.

You itching yet?

EDIT: Just found a site that gives a midge forecast (starts again next week according to their Twitter page. According to that the midge season's just kicking off.