The conditions for midges have been so ideal this year that there has now been an unusual third hatch of the biting beastie.

The number of midges are also nearly a third up on last year and set to be a record – with a couple more weeks of official logging left.

Just as you thought it was safe to go out, leading midge expert Dr Alison Blackwell said it was clear that the third hatch was “the most significant for five years.”

One trap in Glencoe has been catching a staggering 30,000 extra midges a night – compared to the last two weeks in August – a clear sign of a third hatch, she said.

Midges normally only hatch twice in the summer season - at the end of May and the beginning of July.

“We don’t usually get large third hatches. But this is the most significant for about five years,” said Dr Blackwell.