In reply to peppermill:
> Oh you become desensitised to it.
> I realised I'd been living in Scotland too long when friends from London on a climbing trip to the US last year were flapping about all the mosquitoes and I hadn't even noticed them......
Not sure - When it's 6am in Polldubh and you can't see your hands for midges, the thought of climbing and having my face covered the same isn't worth thinking about (my wife is pretty much immune to midge bites, she just comes out with a few red dots. However, she went gardening one evening and when the bites hit well over a hundred she started feeling quite unwell).
A few midges knocking about - normal, a few hundred on a still day - I can cope. A few thousand landing on you while belaying or looking for the next marginal foothold..... hmmm, nope.