UKC

whilst out cycling and camping last weekend I was almost always surrounded by flies, really irritating and the inevitable itchy bites resulting for a week after.they seemed to ignore my two mates!
I tried having a smoke which is neither pleasant not that effective. Im not a fan of strong chemicals like deet, citronella does nothing.
I dont smell and rarely need to use deoderant.

so what does ukc suggest? or am I just really tasty?

In reply to ow arm:

http://midgeforecast.co.uk/smidge/about-smidge/

maybe?

In reply to ow arm:
I find "Mozzy Off" is really good, picked it up years ago from CAT.

In reply to John Kelly:

looks ideal, ill pop in to cotswold next weej.
thanks

In reply to ow arm:

What makes you say citronella doesn't work? I have always found it good so I am curious.

In reply to marsbar:
I bought a citronella based insect replent and I found it next to useless against midgies - atleast when they are keen to bite and a lot of them. The same goes for some bog myrtle stuff I bought.

However I have found lemon euclyptus works specifically this stuff http://www.boots.com/en/Jungle-Formula-natural-pump---75ml_1209155/?cm_mmc=... . However it is pretty strong smelling (but not nasty) and once the smell wears off (every couple of hours) then it stops working!

In reply to CurlyStevo:

I will try that. I find citronella candles are good when camping. I've always used pure citronella oil shaken up with a little water, maybe that is stronger.

In reply to ow arm:

100% DEET always.

In reply to ow arm:

Try some deodorant.

In reply to ow arm:

There was an entomologist on the radio last week talking about this. He said he'd found that Deet is effective against Mosquitoes but that it wasn't very good against midgies. The only thing I've found that works for midgies is long sleeves and a head net.

In reply to OwenM:
I've found deet to be very effective against midgies. Smidge also works

More info http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/2045813/

In reply to ow arm:
Marmite. Just spread it on like sun cream . They hate the vitamin in it ? B12.

In reply to ow arm:

A second vote for Smidge - I've always been a martyr to mozzies, midges and horseflies, being bitten to death whenever they are around.
Smidge is the first thing I've found that actually works for me...

In reply to ow arm:

I used to use 100% DEET (for example, Ben's 100) for a decade or so to prevent mosquitoes and midges (when I moved to the UK) in quite few countries. However, it is rather harsh material to put on your skin and can leave some marks on your garments. So I moved to Smidge and I am quite happy so far (tried it only several times so far - I have been lucky this summer). It smells better, too.

Extra Tip: It looks like it's a bad idea to go outside naked in the middle of the evening/night. I realized that too late...