Page 10 - 1995 AMA Spring

The 16 AMA members present include 3 women and come from Regular and TA units all over the UK, with even one from BAOR. Ambitions include walking, climbing and even ski-mountaineer­ ing. The area has everything we can wish for, from the high cliffs of Ben Nevis and Creag Meagaidh to remote and challenging munrobagging in Ben Alder and the Grey Corries. Weather will be the only limit to our achievement.
As the week unfolds, a creditable amount is done. The weather starts as mediocre, but steadily improves. The drying room is well used, but intrepid parties venture off to remote bothies. We go to a slide show in Fort William to hear how Mick Fowler defied grav­ ity on an impossibly steep peak in the Indian Himalaya. We have our own slide show, to see what Carrie had to put up with in Peru, and a mouth watering commercial for the 1995 AMA trip to the Annapurna Sanctuary.
Various groups manage an extended outing, staying away from the centre in one of the mountain bothies in the area. By New Year fresh snow falls. Hogmanay is fairly restrained because most peo­ ple have had a hard day on the hill and are planning another on January 1st. 1995 starts with good weather and is better yet on the 2nd. We finish with a meal out in a local hostelry and depart on the 3rd, Christmas presents tested, wallets largely intact, new friendships made and ample enthusiasm for the next New Year meet. This is planned for Newtonmore on Speyside next year - see you there!
ARMA MOUNTAINEER
Mountaineer v The Midge
For those of us who have done most of our walking and climb­ ing in Scotland, the dreaded midge is well known. How is it that it manages to find that one small area you’ve missed with repellant? and is there nothing more guaranteed to spoil your day, then being stuck on a crag, while your climbing partner dithers on a stance, and you re providing the blood for a midge feeding fren­ zy? If you’re ever likely to be in such a situation, you will find this article invaluable.
For collectors of useless pieces of information there are 34 differ­ ent species of midge flying around Scotland. Twenty of these have a taste for blood, of which five have a preference to human blood. The main culprit in the human blood sucking variety is Culicoides Impunctatus, and is a relative of the mosquito. Similar to most bit­ ing insects, only the female of the species suck blood. The male midge is a vegetarian and gets its substances from nectar and plant juice. When we breathe out the female home’s in, attracted by the carbon dioxide gas in our exhaled breath. She sticks’ her hollow, needle like nose into the tissues below the skin and sucks up our fluids and blood. There is little doubt that humans are her favourite grub! The female midge’s mouthparts are like hypoder­ mic syringes. After injecting anti-coagulant she sucks up her fill of blood. It is the reaction to the anti-coagulant that makes the bites so irritating. We are not alone in being theirtargetsforblood meals. Horses and cows are just as liable to find themselves under attack. The midge starts life as an egg. After hatching the tiny worm like larva spends 10 months in a non feeding state before starting to develop into a pupa. The process from pupa to arrival at adult­ hood, is completed within a few days As many as 80 eggs are pro­ duced in this way thus showing how the midge population can
keep on expanding even without voluntary donors. Scotland is the worst affected country in the world from midges. Apart from the winter months, only May and June are midge free, with late June to the end of September being the worst months. Bites can range from being a persistent irritant to causing large, painful and unsightly sores.
Well it now seems that help is at hand. The defeat of the midge, which one distinguished Scot once remarked was the Everest of Entomology, may well be brought about by the humble Bog Myrtle. Researchers have discovered that this plant, common throughout Northern Scotland yields an oil that can act as an effective natural insect repellant.
Of course there are many flying insects from hell that can transmit serious diseases. None of the following diseases are common in UK, but maybe common in a country you are planning to visit.
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SSgt Andy Gallagher on step ground on Squir Gaibhre
M osquito.
Flea. Louse.
Mite. Sandfly. Tick.
Malaria, Yellow Fever, Dengue and other Arboviral Fevers.
Plague, Endemic Typhus. Epidemic Typhus, Relapsing Fever.
Scrub Typhus.
Sandfly Fever, Leishmaniasis.
Relapsing Fever, Tick Borne Encephalitis, Tick Typhus, Lyme Disease.