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Original poster

Are mosquitos in the U.K. a newish thing?

81 replies

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 21/07/2021 21:55

I get bitten really badly. Bites currently the size of small plates and itching like crazy.

But l never remember getting this in Britain prior to 1996. I remember that was quite a hot year and that’s when they seemed to move in on me. I was 32 then.

Or have l become more tasty as I’ve got older?

OP posts:
Goldrill · 21/07/2021 23:22

I am pretty sure the fens were really well known for it before they were drained. Lots of malaria deaths, particularly when wives came in from outside the area.

MrsFin · 21/07/2021 23:22

I'm not sure we do have mosquitoes. What we can mosquitoes are actually gnats I think or am I talking bullshit?

lottiegarbanzo · 21/07/2021 23:25

I think a lot of people use the word mozzie for gnats or anything bitey.

Real mozzies are quite big and do the annoying high-pitched buzz.

newmumwithquestions · 21/07/2021 23:25

I have to be up at 6 but am lying in bed because every time I put mumsnet down I hear that high pitched whine trying to get me.

First bites I got were when I was 15, in Spain. I think they’re much worse than they used to be - at the time I lived in the SE of England but had never been bitten by a mosquito. born in Scotland though and have an in-built tolerance to midge bites!

irresistibleoverwhelm · 21/07/2021 23:27

Midges are usually smaller; actual mosquitos are quite distinctive and easy to spot when you know what they look like. Not every small gnat-like fly is a mosquito though.

Spanglebangle · 21/07/2021 23:28

Just googled there are 30 kinds of mosquito in the UK. They are massive dicks. Get one of those plug in this and a tonne of spray.

Howshouldibehave · 21/07/2021 23:28

I was always bitten badly by gnats/mosquitoes or whatever they were in the 80s as a child-particularly on my legs, they would swell up like a second kneecap! Still do, tbh. It’s certainly not a new thing here for me, anyway.

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 21/07/2021 23:28

@MrsFin we have mozzies, just not the carry malaria type although they can spread myxamotosis. Although perhaps I see them more as I live near the Norfolk Broads so quite prevalent here.

NiceGerbil · 21/07/2021 23:29

Sorry I think you are!

They make an irritating zzzz sound
If you splat one blood comes out
They breed on still water type places- back in the 80s top tip was to cover your water butt!

Yes we do and have since at least the 80s!

From of all places rentokill site Grin

'There are more than 30 native mosquito species in the UK, some of which bite (such as Culex molestus) and others like Culex pipiens that are just a general nuisance and do not carry disease. '

Thedogisdrivingmemad · 21/07/2021 23:40

I've definitely noticed this - there are loads round here now. To those of you with bad reactions to their bites, I speak from bitter bitten experience when I say I have tried every remedy out there. Best for me is an anti-itch cream (E45) do one, applied asap after the bite happens and do not start scratching it if at all possible. I think it's as much the scratching that causes the huge reaction for me and it becomes a vicious cycle.

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 21/07/2021 23:46

Anti histamine for the swelling, hyper strength bite cream. They sell really strong stuff in France which I have just run out of.

Noticeably more mozzies in London than where I live now but they are still around. The fuckers.

Bought a mosquito net for DD as she is also v allergic to the bites. DH doesn't need a net apparently as he has me!

FaceyRomford · 22/07/2021 00:28

They've been here for years but in isolated spots, The Fens, the marshy pond at Godstone in Surrey (where I studied them for A-level Biology) and such like places.

Sparrowsong · 22/07/2021 00:38

Public service announcement - get one of theses, they really work! I am allergic to mozzie bites and this heats up and denatures the bite so I don’t swell up. Wasps etc too. Heat stings a bit but it’s similar to laser hair removal, v fast.

www.chemist.co.uk/biteaway-insect-heat-treatment-device-pr.html

No association just someone who is pleased to find a thing that works.

Sparrowsong · 22/07/2021 00:42

More info myfamilyfever.co.uk/2020/06/review-bite-away/

Maggiesfarm · 22/07/2021 00:59

Not at all recent,I remember them in my childhood. They love me!

EBearhug · 22/07/2021 01:01

I was already to talk about the fens and malaria, and now I donate to.

When I was a child ('70s), I remember being fascinating the mosquito larvae that wiggled about in the top of the uncovered water butt at our friends' house.

EBearhug · 22/07/2021 01:02

fascinated by
Autocorrect is most unhelpful.

colouringindoors · 22/07/2021 01:02

I had gnat bites as a kid but have daily buzzy mozzies in my house and garden this year. I'm sure I read somewhere that we'll have more of them due to warming temperatures.

NiceGerbil · 22/07/2021 01:08

@Maggiesfarm

Not at all recent,I remember them in my childhood. They love me!
Actually yes.

I remember them a lot from when I was a kid. Then they kind of.. weren't there until a couple years ago.

When I was a kid there were way more insects generally. Loads of butterflies, there were dragonflies, erm. Things around in the air Grin. They went as well.

I'm in greater London so not countryside.

Did we do something that fucked with the insects for maybe 30 years? Garden pesticides that are banned now? No idea.

irresistibleoverwhelm · 22/07/2021 01:13

@NiceGerbil yes absolutely - it’s a well known issue but really frightening. I’m just old enough to remember swarms of insects at dusk and how if you went out driving in summer the windscreen got covered with dead insects. There’s been a huge collapse in insect biodiversity since the 70s:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/06/why-a-lack-of-squished-bugs-on-the-windscreen-is-a-worrying-sign

Probably due to agricultural pesticides and changes in farming practices, but no one really knows exactly why or what to do about it.

MegaCityOne · 22/07/2021 01:19

Which is why me and DH cannot understand why windows with built in fly screens aren’t a thing here. I react really badly to mosquito bites, they end up forming volcano like craters in my skin. We want proper fly screens for the windows and doors.

NiceGerbil · 22/07/2021 01:47

Irresistibleoverwhelm

Things have been improving. I really noticed at the start of lockdown but I was taking more walks so that's not a reliable timescale!

I do know that this year we have, that just wasn't here before/ for years

An insane local hedgehog
Multiple birds of prey in the sky
Seems to be more birdsong
More bees
DH says more badger roadkill which presumably means more badgers

I'm not into spotting stuff I expect there's more.

I think things are improving. I hope it's not just due to less pollution due to lockdown. And is something more permanent.

garlictwist · 22/07/2021 06:00

I remember being really badly bitten as a child. It doesn't seem to happen as much now, or if I do get bitten the bites aren't as bad, even though I do spend a lot of time outdoors. Maybe my body has learned not to react as badly now.

TheGallopingGourmet · 22/07/2021 06:12

Mozzies bite everybody. Those of us that have a severe reaction, the lumps, itcing etc have an allergy to the protein that the mosquito injects into our bloodstream to stop the blood clotting. I think I have become more tolerant to the protein with age and exposure if that is possible. Never had any problems in UK.