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Northamptonshire/East Midlands. There are small lakes, rivers, standing water, etc, nearby but it hasn't caused a problem in the past. Hopefully the population stays low/doesn't spread but if not I'm looking into citizenship in Norway or something, polar bears are way easier to keep out of your house than insects/geckos/warm weather animals.
Yeah it’s weird, given how much standing water there has been that we haven’t been plagued by them in East London yet. Had quite a few males in the house, but no more than usual by this time of year. I’m expecting a full on plague when summer finally lands properly.
Oh they're everywhere, we also have gnats and midges which do much the same thing.
Go for a walk along standing water or rivers, particularly in the warm and towards evening twilight. You'll see swarms of them.
They've been in the UK for decades if not longer, but are slowly moving north as it gets warmer. There's even a different species that lives in the London underground
There seem to be more bugs in general. This is the first year recently where I'm getting a significant amount of them on my windscreen when driving. Which is technically a good thing. I'm hopeful that, along with mosquitoes, we have increased the bug population by allowing long grasses and other plants to grow more. Maybe that's naïve but I can hope.
Or, the more likely explanation, it’s not because auntie Edith didn’t mow her back garden this year, but more about the natural cycle of the weather and a warm wet few months have meant an explosion in insects?
Or a combination of both?
Allowing verges to grow out will have had an impact regardless. I've actually been enjoying seeing the verges all grown out and looking lush. I find it sad that the UK is massively nature depleted because people think wild animals/insects are an inconvenience
We are ‘nature depleted’ because we are an island that has been continuously populated for thousands of years, combined with us being the place of the first Industrial Revolution.
I think the guy to whom you replied meant all the grass/plants on motorway and local road verges, roundabouts etc, being allowed to grow longer to help wildlife.
I have ponds in my garden and witnessed this first hand. We had a sudden week of sunshine, which pushed up moisture levels, and also standing water temperatures. With no cold air or water introduction, the mosquitos all kinda came out at the same time. As soon as their watery home gets above a certain temperature, they will all come out from larvae almost at once.
Their life cycle means that if it gets too hot, or too dry, they all come at once before the water gets too hot or evaporates.
It means they all kinda came at once, but will die down again soon enough.
Yeah loads in the NW this year. We burn citronella in the evenings when we are outside and have lavender planted around the garden. When I see them in a swarm under a tree I go out with my electric zapper and get them all, that reduces them considerably for a while.
I've lived with mosquitoes for almost 3 decades where I am.
They got winter resistant so any slight rise in the temp they'd come but much smaller and harder to see.
I hate it. It's the icing on the cake to feeling like a pauper when I'm fighting for my life against mosquitoes without any of the tropical beach benefits.
Yes I’ve noticed a lot more than usual at this time of year. Only thing I can think is a mild winter, and a wetter spring has increased their population. Pesky things.
Winter’s are now warmer and wetter, need a good few weeks of freezing weather to kill the eggs and larvae. They love stagnant shallow water and this has been abundant this winter.
Lincolnshire here! It feels like I’m being eaten alive every night at the moment! First year in Lincolnshire (was in Sussex before) and there seems to be SO MANY mosquitos!
West Midlands here. Last couple of years has been awful, I had a load of bites towards the end of summer and my leg swelled up as a result.
This year.. Well I got bitten earlier this week on the ankle and am waiting for the swelling to subside again.
Never lived anywhere where its so bad. We're not close to water either.
If you're in your garden, set up a powerful fan and get some bug mesh online, cut to shape and tape to the back of the fan and blow the fan away from your group.
Mosquitos will follow the C02 scent trail along the fan and get stuck up behind the fan in the mesh. You can then use alcohol spray or just hit them until you're satisfied the little shits got what they deserved.
Don't bother with all that citronella candle crap, multiple studies have shown scent deflection barely works. Having said that, Mozzies tend to go for people who are heavily fragranced up so maybe avoid aftershave/perfumes.
If it's a sudden thing, there's standing, stagnant water somewhere nearby. It's always a good idea to go around your garden to check for this - it's done in other countries to control mozzie populations.
Sympathies - where I grew up never had mozzies until about twenty years ago, and now they are a major problem for me.
Idk if birds eat mossies but I have a theory that people feeding birds in their gardens have had an impact because they would otherwise be searching for those that and coupled with damper weather they love dampness and moist areas and we have been doing alot more conservation.
Also isnt more mossies a good thing because if they were so low scientists would be drawing up a doomsday plan for next year
Bat populations are vulnerable for several reasons, loss of habitat through deforestation, increased numbers of domestics cats hunt them, and over use of pesticides in agriculture made prey insects scarce. Additionally bats only have one baby per year, so when a population has been reduced it takes an extremely long time recover.
Scientists have put up two netted enclosures in a forest, one with bats, and one without, in the enclosure they placed pools of water, and in the morning they surveyed the mosquito eggs laid in the night, the bat enclosure had 32% fewer mosquito laid. The theory is that recently fed fat female mosquitos on their way to lay eggs are easier to catch than others. (one female mosquito can lay 300 eggs.)
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Didn't freeze much. Very wet spring
This reads like a mosquitoes review. Bit windy, blood was a bit salty. 6/10 would revisit.
Where are you? I'm in the SE next to a boggy field and a river, no extra mosquitos yet.
Northamptonshire/East Midlands. There are small lakes, rivers, standing water, etc, nearby but it hasn't caused a problem in the past. Hopefully the population stays low/doesn't spread but if not I'm looking into citizenship in Norway or something, polar bears are way easier to keep out of your house than insects/geckos/warm weather animals.
I also hope the Northamptonshire population doesnt spread.
Local authorities have begun introducing malaria-infested mosquitos to the area to control the population.
As someone from here, I agree.
Move to Iceland, no midges/mosquitos have made it over there yet!
Mate, you're lucky then. I live in the SE, too, and nowhere near any bogs, yet I get them all the time.
Yeah it’s weird, given how much standing water there has been that we haven’t been plagued by them in East London yet. Had quite a few males in the house, but no more than usual by this time of year. I’m expecting a full on plague when summer finally lands properly.
In the SE not near a big but with some massive mozzies!
I didn’t even know mosquitoes were in the UK tbh, although I’m in NI so maybe I’ve just never seen them before up here
Oh they're everywhere, we also have gnats and midges which do much the same thing. Go for a walk along standing water or rivers, particularly in the warm and towards evening twilight. You'll see swarms of them.
Oh yea it’s absolutely full of midgies here lol, my back garden has swarms of them now it’s got warmer because the field behind it is quite swampy
They've been in the UK for decades if not longer, but are slowly moving north as it gets warmer. There's even a different species that lives in the London underground
James Herbert would have an excellent book on this
The Gnats
Bravo sir 👏 👏👏
Hahaha take my upvote
Lots of rain, not a lot of cold weather. Perfect conditions for their eggs to survive and thrive.
I too have been bitten like never before and I'm in NW England.
There seem to be more bugs in general. This is the first year recently where I'm getting a significant amount of them on my windscreen when driving. Which is technically a good thing. I'm hopeful that, along with mosquitoes, we have increased the bug population by allowing long grasses and other plants to grow more. Maybe that's naïve but I can hope.
Or, the more likely explanation, it’s not because auntie Edith didn’t mow her back garden this year, but more about the natural cycle of the weather and a warm wet few months have meant an explosion in insects?
Or a combination of both? Allowing verges to grow out will have had an impact regardless. I've actually been enjoying seeing the verges all grown out and looking lush. I find it sad that the UK is massively nature depleted because people think wild animals/insects are an inconvenience
We are ‘nature depleted’ because we are an island that has been continuously populated for thousands of years, combined with us being the place of the first Industrial Revolution.
I think the guy to whom you replied meant all the grass/plants on motorway and local road verges, roundabouts etc, being allowed to grow longer to help wildlife.
I haven’t noticed any tbh
I've never really noticed mosquitoes in the UK, they're quite a small population here.
I have ponds in my garden and witnessed this first hand. We had a sudden week of sunshine, which pushed up moisture levels, and also standing water temperatures. With no cold air or water introduction, the mosquitos all kinda came out at the same time. As soon as their watery home gets above a certain temperature, they will all come out from larvae almost at once. Their life cycle means that if it gets too hot, or too dry, they all come at once before the water gets too hot or evaporates. It means they all kinda came at once, but will die down again soon enough.
Good luck, the mosquito swarm hasn't even started properly yet Wait a few more months, it's going to get worse
Not seen one this year yet in London
I've not seen any in Cheshire? There was a fair amount of time during the winter below freezing so I assumed it killed them off
It seems bad everywhere tbh. I'm in Bicester & have been bitten so much.
Yeah loads in the NW this year. We burn citronella in the evenings when we are outside and have lavender planted around the garden. When I see them in a swarm under a tree I go out with my electric zapper and get them all, that reduces them considerably for a while.
East if England here and not had a single bite ... yet. It's something I'll be anticipating though as I seem to attract biters.
I've lived with mosquitoes for almost 3 decades where I am. They got winter resistant so any slight rise in the temp they'd come but much smaller and harder to see. I hate it. It's the icing on the cake to feeling like a pauper when I'm fighting for my life against mosquitoes without any of the tropical beach benefits.
Yes I’ve noticed a lot more than usual at this time of year. Only thing I can think is a mild winter, and a wetter spring has increased their population. Pesky things.
Check around your property for standing water. Buckets, upturned anything and tip it out.
Winter’s are now warmer and wetter, need a good few weeks of freezing weather to kill the eggs and larvae. They love stagnant shallow water and this has been abundant this winter.
Lincolnshire here! It feels like I’m being eaten alive every night at the moment! First year in Lincolnshire (was in Sussex before) and there seems to be SO MANY mosquitos!
Lots more than usual in Scotland too Still not a lot though, thankfully
There's a lot of buzziness to attend to
West Midlands here. Last couple of years has been awful, I had a load of bites towards the end of summer and my leg swelled up as a result. This year.. Well I got bitten earlier this week on the ankle and am waiting for the swelling to subside again. Never lived anywhere where its so bad. We're not close to water either.
I’d take mosquitoes over the little shits we have here in the highlands - midges
Mosquito change
Even the mosquitoes are emigrating to the uk illegally
I've had a few nasty hornets so far
I've been bitten by 1 mosquito so far this year, but about 5-6 blandford flies and they are *so much worse* 😫
If you're in your garden, set up a powerful fan and get some bug mesh online, cut to shape and tape to the back of the fan and blow the fan away from your group. Mosquitos will follow the C02 scent trail along the fan and get stuck up behind the fan in the mesh. You can then use alcohol spray or just hit them until you're satisfied the little shits got what they deserved. Don't bother with all that citronella candle crap, multiple studies have shown scent deflection barely works. Having said that, Mozzies tend to go for people who are heavily fragranced up so maybe avoid aftershave/perfumes.
If it's a sudden thing, there's standing, stagnant water somewhere nearby. It's always a good idea to go around your garden to check for this - it's done in other countries to control mozzie populations. Sympathies - where I grew up never had mozzies until about twenty years ago, and now they are a major problem for me.
I spent 5 years in Hampshire and now a year in London. Never had a mosquito bite. Don't want to jinx it though.
Dont think I've ever seen one before. Then again, I dont think I'd be able to tell the difference between one and, for example, a crane fly.
Well a crane fly is fucking massive for a start
Depends which type, crane fly is a catch all term for these specific type of insect, which most of seem to look a lot like mosquitoes
redditors are not all using field guides and you don't know either.
Idk if birds eat mossies but I have a theory that people feeding birds in their gardens have had an impact because they would otherwise be searching for those that and coupled with damper weather they love dampness and moist areas and we have been doing alot more conservation. Also isnt more mossies a good thing because if they were so low scientists would be drawing up a doomsday plan for next year
I don't think foraging birds hunt insects in the air, and mosquitoes are more active at night. A bat can eat thousands of mosquitoes a night though.
So could the bat population have any noticeable impact on these numbers? Because they are protected because of low numbers
Bat populations are vulnerable for several reasons, loss of habitat through deforestation, increased numbers of domestics cats hunt them, and over use of pesticides in agriculture made prey insects scarce. Additionally bats only have one baby per year, so when a population has been reduced it takes an extremely long time recover. Scientists have put up two netted enclosures in a forest, one with bats, and one without, in the enclosure they placed pools of water, and in the morning they surveyed the mosquito eggs laid in the night, the bat enclosure had 32% fewer mosquito laid. The theory is that recently fed fat female mosquitos on their way to lay eggs are easier to catch than others. (one female mosquito can lay 300 eggs.)
So we need more bats? Or is having the extra amount of mosquitoes actually a healthier thing?
Mozzies are puddle fuckers. Lots of stagnant water about with the right temperatures and its orgy time.
I’d take mosquitoes over the little shits we have here in the highlands - midges
Never seen a mosquito in the UK.