Insects having a field day

IT’S a summer with a sting in the tail. Warm and moist weather is providing ideal conditions for biting insects, with midges, fleas, ants, horseflies and their ilk having a field day.

A colleague who took a strimmer to an overgrown section of his garden the other day got the fright of his life. In his own words, he was almost eaten alive by a swarm of all kinds of insects which attacked him with fury.

But, you don’t have to go cutting or removing vegetation to feel the pain. These often hidden creatures will come after you without provocation, even if you’re just walking outdoors. We have more than 10,000 insect species in Ireland and many are so small we can’t see them.