Warm weather brought Scotland 'rare third midge hatch'

Scotland enjoyed some warm and dry weather in September and October

Autumn's warm weather produced a rare third hatching of biting midges, a scientist has said.

Dr Alison Blackwell, who runs the Scottish Midge Forecast, said the consequences could be more of the insects next year.

The scientists said that overall this year there were fewer midges than previous years because the cold and wet summer affected the two main hatches.

A midge trap in Argyll had almost two million fewer insects than in 2014.

At Gairloch in Wester Ross, another trap used for surveying midge numbers were found to have fallen by one and half million insects.