The beautiful Glenveagh Castle Gardens attract thousands of visitors every summer, but they also house millions of midges.
The garden workers have a novel way of getting the flies to buzz off so people can enjoy the stunning landscape in peace.
Gardener Mark McFadden today shared a video of ‘the finest Glenveagh midges’ collected over the weekend in a special machine. If you’re squeamish you might not want to hit play on this one!
Full bag of the finest Glenveagh Midges collected over the last 2 days at the Castle in one of the 5 Midge traps. pic.twitter.com/iJFeDApyOB
— Mark Mc Fadden (@urmanthegoat) May 29, 2017
Mark told Donegal Daily that this is a way they combat the many midges at Glenveagh National Park which gather at the start of summer. One bag can contain up to a MILLION moving midges.
“We see the first batch of midges appearing around the June Bank Holiday,” he said.
“We use a Scottish machine which has gas cylinders that create carbon dioxide. This mimics the carbon dioxide that humans breathe out that attracts midges to us. The machine has a vacuum that sucks in the midges to the bag.”
Keeping the picturesque gardens at Glenveagh is a ‘lovely job’ says Mark, but the downside is days like these when he has to deal with the many midges.
“They have to be there as part of the ecosystem, but these machines attract them away from areas where there are people. They say that catching one midge is 50 less eggs laid.”
Glenveagh Midge Machine
Midges are just a small part of the experience of being out in the natural world at Glenveagh National Park, Mark said.
“It’s always beautiful here, but people can forget about it when they are annoyed by midges. We have midge repellant wipes and sprays for people in the Castle.”
There are five midge repellant machines around the Castle Gardens and each bag can hold up to a million flies.
Mark said the bags are left to settle in a dark shed before the pests are recycled as compost in the garden beds.
The video might not be easy to watch, but it’s good to know that we can enjoy the best of beautiful Glenveagh without worrying too much about any pesky bites!
Tags: