SCOTLAND is heading for the worst midge season since records began – with numbers set to be up 40 per cent on last year.

The Scottish Midge Forecast said they are on course to record 68 billion this summer.

The organisation started collecting detailed information on midge numbers in 2010.

Dr Alison Blackwell said the previous record was set in 2014. One trap alone in Inveraray, Argyll, had 6.5million midges. She is expecting to exceed that number in 2017.

Dr Blackwell said: “The counts are trailing off. The first generation are dying, the second about to begin, but we are set to get a third generation in September if the weather continues.”