to think that mosquitos should not be a thing in the UK?

[DonMosquiote]

I've lived in England for many, many years and may have the odd midge bite. This year for the first time ever, there have been mosquitos - yes actual fuck off mosquitos with the high pitched wine and everythign - in the garden and as it turns out in the house.

This is why I am posting. One of the bastards got in my bedroom unnoticed and had some kind of major banquet on my upper hip when I was sleeping without a sheet. I don't know if it's a pile of bites or a bite on a bite on a bite - but it's a bad scene. It's so itchy and the centre (which is massive) is virtually hard with the multiple hive reaction. The sporners would wet themselves with excitement to see it.

How did this happen?

I've never known mosquitos in the UK. certainly not in suburbs.

As a realted qu - how can I find the culprit? I've tried a light on a night to lure it out but no joy. Where would it hide in a bed room

I see your mosquitos and raise you horseflies.

Biting ninjas that will chase me prey across the garden for a fang-fest 😡

You have been lucky then. There are mosquitoes every year. That annoying high pitched whine when you are just about to drop off....

We always had them in our garden / flat in sw London(about 100 yards from the Thames) but we just moved house a couple of miles south of the river and there are far fewer.
They have been on the planet since before the dinosaurs and will be here long after we are extinct. Expect more as climate change unfolds!

We live near several water sources, mosquito heaven. DC2 is a magnet for them, this year she got a bed canopy from IKEA and the side effect of sleeping like a princess is no mozzie bites.

They're not expensive and you can still sleep without a sheet. You just have to make sure one doesn't get inside with you...

My foot this evening

Also, supposedly the smell of coconut repels them.m, a recent study found.

Unfortunately it also repels me so I haven't tried coconut body products yet.

Horseflies are the work of the devil.

I don't usually get bitten even abroad but I am in Malta and have 2 bloody big bites on my face, a thousand thank yous to the poster who recommended a hot spoon, the relief was instant and the itch is gone, for now anyway.

There have always been mosquitoes in the uk - I have occasionally seem them as far north as Scotland. What you need to be much more worried about is the fact that global warming is changing the natural habitat and making the arrival of "non-British" ones more likely - and those carry diseases the like of which we won't want to see. Outbreaks of Chikungunya, for example, have reached Italy on occasion. Malaria, Dengue Fever, Zik and West Nile Disease are already endemic in some parts of Europe. Extreme weather events like flooding and rought are natural environments for succesful mosquito life cycles. Sound like anywhere you know???

I was always told they loved being near water, so do you have a pond or river near you? maybe the warmer weather is making them breed?

Also are you pregnant? They love that. And it’s only the female ones that bite so maybe you have loads of girl ones.

Screens. They are going to have to start building houses with screen windows. They work a treat.

Can we see a picture op? (Missing the point of the thread!!)

I was plagued by them so badly at night a few years ago that I actually bought a mosquito net and slept under it. Did the trick. In hindsight, it would have been easier to buy velcro-on window screens but the Out of Africa sleeping experience was fun for the first few nights.

I live in the middle of the Square Mile and we get them. In fact, one summer's night (before an interview), a very hungry mosquito got into my bedroom and I got bitten on the eyebrow and top lip. I never knew the bastards bit faces, but it seems they do. My entire face swelled up and the interview panel looked horrified. And rightly so.

I now have a mosquito repellent plug-in switched on in each room in the flat from April to November.

*Even to this day I do not know why I did not cancel the interview.

I've mostly lived in North Essex and there have been mosquitos all my life. I also remember being bitten a lot when I lived in London.

They have always been mosquitoes, but there does seem to be loads of the fuckers this year, and they’re big bastards as well. They lerv me, and my body does not react well. Horse flies also love me, and they’re evil little cuntbags from hell.

I've just come back from Greece. I think I had the mosquito sniper squad out every night. I have some spectacular purple bites that itch like hell. They're raised, hard, hot and the size of a 50p.

I'm a ginger and normally they LOVE me every single time I go abroad. Just came back from a huge family holiday to france and weirdly I was the only person in 14 adults and kids without a single bite?! I had surgery in early May though and was on antibiotics until the 8th of June ( the day we arrived in france) and so I'm assuming it was to do with that? Either way my mind is blown I've never been ANYWHERE , not even camping in the uk, and escaped being bitten!

Once it gets to the hive stage, oral antihistamines are the way to go. Eg. Phenergan. Works much better than putting cream on the site.

Mozzies bite everyone, it's how the host reacts. I get really small bumps, like pimples but my husband gets huge welts.
So it's not that they like you (or not) it's how your body reacts to their saliva.

They love me too - bastards. Does anything work to repel them? I get a really bad reaction to them too - yuk

Fun fact, the tube has its own mozzie sub species. And mozzies were biting people sleeping down there during the Blitz, so definitely not a new thing.
Solidarity with those who are both highly edible and who react badly to bites. I realised I react really badly when I googled what a bite allergy looks like and mine were all worse than the photos they used as illustration 🤦🏻‍♀️

Ah right, I’m a lesbian, that explains it. Sadly, human women aren’t half as attracted to me.

@Lidlpopdrinker LOL at the idea of lesbian mozzies! 🙃

Hydrate your skin several times a day with basically your choice of moisturizer. Helps before and after bites. Mosquitos hate skin covered in crème. Mosquitos like to wait for the next attack on ceilings and walls, preferably just behind you on the wall above your head. Grab a rolled up newspaper, turn the bedside light on and you’ll see them there! aim swiftly!