Millions of Scotland's most feared biting beasties have been wiped out by the hot summer.

The numbers of biting midges in Scotland has fallen dramatically this year, according to official recording stations.

With midges preferring conditions to be wet and warm, four of the five midge recording traps saw falls of up to 80% compared to last year's record.

Glen Afric recorded the biggest fall from nearly 4.8m midges to just over 90,000.

Argyll was down 44% to 3.5m with the population in the Galloway Hills dropping 38% to 2.7m.

In The Cairngorms only 860,000 were trapped compared to 1.21m in 2012.

Only Gairloch in Wester Ross saw a rise - by just 2% to 1.32 million.

The falls came despite a record recording in June and July, but a cold spring and the hot and dry late summer killed off vast swathes of the midge population.

Leading midge expert Dr Alison Blackwell said that numbers were still higher than 2011, but the insect had suffered from weather it "just doesn't like."

Dr Blackwell, who is director of Advanced Pest Solutions of Edinburgh - which runs the forecast - said the falls had been "dramatic."

She said: "The numbers were up three to four times in June and July on last year, which was itself a record, but after that they just died away in the hot and dry weather.

"The main first hatch of midges usually comes in May, but we had reports of people even being bitten in late March in previous years when it was warmer. Not this year though.

"They like it wet and warm - that is the perfect conditions for them."

The flying midge lives for between two days and two weeks depending on the weather. During this time the female can lay up to 170 eggs in as much as three batches.