By Lucy Ashton
Whether you are out fishing, playing golf on a local course or simply walking the West Highland Way, the midges are odds on to bite you.
However, an angler reckons he has come up with the ideal solution for keeping midges at bay this summer.
Millions of them will annoy holiday makers out to explore the vast outdoors over the next few months, with experts predicting a bumper breed.
But Ken Roberts says he doesn’t need to worry about the insects thanks to his Smokin’ Midge device.
Ken, 61, is a keen recreational fisherman and found himself being attacked by midges on his regular trips out on the river.
A photographer by trade, he noticed when he lit up a cigarette they would leave him alone.
Aware that wasn’t a very healthy method, he set about coming up with something that would do the same job.
The result was the Smokin’ Midge, a gadget designed to be worn on the arm – although it can also sit on a table – which emits smoke that keeps the midge at bay.
Having perfected the design at the start of lockdown, Ken has now sold thousands of units and has taken it on as a full-time job.
Ken told the Scottish Daily Express: “He insisted that he reads all his emails, which I believe, but he never got back to me. But now I don’t need his investment.”
Ken uses a ‘secret recipe’ of natural ingredients to create the smoke that keeps the midges away. He insists they are all perfectly safe but won’t give them up in case a competitor swoops in.
Loch Lomond and Rivers Leven, Endrick and Fruin fisherman, Dumbarton man Dick Dickson has written a book about angling locally. It’s available at Ardardan, local bookshops and on line.
An angler looks to the wind to blow away the midges on Loch Lomond. Picture by Bill Heaney