Be warned - it looks like a record year for midges

The world's leading expert on midges is predicting a "record" summer for the biting beastie, with the worst yet to come.

Dr Alison Blackwell says current weather conditions could not be more perfect for the insect.

At Galloway Forest, the catch was 305 per cent up, Loch Ness was 266 per cent higher, while Ardgour Peninsula was a more modest 86 per cent "midgier".

But Dr Blackwell said the worst was still to come.

She pointed out the current readings were based on the peak midge month of July from data recorded last year and 2009.

But in mid-June, the numbers of midges in the traps were already up to three times greater than past peaks.

The warmest and driest April on record was followed by wet and damp conditions just as the midges were hatching.

"They seemed to be a bit slower getting going, but we are well on track for a bumper year now," Dr Blackwell warned.

"The trap at Galloway had a quarter of million midges in just the last three days - 170,000 at Loch Ness and 150,000 at Inverary in Argyll. That is serious midge numbers.

"They like warm and damp conditions. They don't like hot and dry summers."

The Scottish tourism industry is estimated to lose 286 million a year because of the voracious and swarming insects.

A previous study found many tourists said they would not return to Scotland at the same time of year because of the midge - or culicoides impunctatus.

Only recently, the midge claimed its biggest scalp to date by helping to scupper a multi-million-pound buyout of a prestigious Scottish golf club.

A rich golf enthusiast who has overseen a seven-figure revamp of the celebrated Wentworth course revealed he had scrapped plans to buy Loch Lomond Golf Club after being "bitten to death" by the insects.

Richard Caring said he visited the former home of the Barclays Scottish Open when it was up for sale but was, in part, put off by the swarms of insects.