As an European, the biggest ones I've seen were in northern Scandinavia. Huge guys, massive swarms of them, sitting on people and backpacks in hundreds as they walked. Te only protection was thick clothing over everything.
Still, any exposed part of skin had 10-20 bites easily. They were harmless, and once I've got used to that weren't itching, as long as I didn't accidentally scratched/bruised over them.
But if it's anything like the wetlands or swamps that remain - you'd have to be utterly naive or completely insane to try and cross them on foot. Pools of shallow water among sludgey mounds of mud and incrediblely dense and tangled vegetation. It's not even something you would consider entering, much less try and cross.
Running joke is that the mosquito is "Alaska's state bird"
yea, that just shows you how vicious those mosquitos are!
You might be thinking to crane flies--dont' think they eat mosquitoes.
They sound like sandflies. I wouldn’t expect mosquitoes that far north.
Alaska would like a word. Worst mosquitoes (both in size and number) I’ve ever experienced were at the Arctic Circle campground. They’re so big, they don’t even make a buzzing sound, it’s more like “flap, flap, flap”. (I exaggerate only slightly.)
In Alaska's Brooks Mountain Range above the Arctic Circle, on a Boy Scout "summer" backpacking trip in 2006, my son and his friends amused themselves by slapping each other on the back with their gloved hands: They wanted to see who could kill the most mosquitoes with one handprint. My son won, with 39 dead. (I was there as one of the adult leaders — to steal from another adult leader, my own idea of roughing it is when there's bad coffee at the Hampton Inn's free breakfast bar ....)
They used to drive down the alleys in my hometown with a fogging truck to kill mosquitos. The only thing they said was "stay inside with the windows closed for a bit". Seems kinda crazy in hindsight.
The native mosquitoes of the DC area can grow to a body length of about 1 inch or a bit longer (~3cm). They were the ones that were nocturnal (or at least dusk active). This variety is likely what revolutionary soldiers would have been writing about.
They have largely been out competed by the invasive "black fly" version (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus) that is active all day (and so, is much more a nuisance, even if they are only about 3/8 inch (~1cm) body length).
The difference in modern times is even more stark because any half civilized government overseeing a region that isn't arid engages in fairly aggressive mosquito control on at least a yearly basis.
Most locals up north will use "jungle oil" or "hunter's oil" if out on a trip. It's a kind of thick black oil you smother any exposed skin with. It keeps all the mosquitoes away, but it's kind of messy.
Also fun fact they also have a Pub in the basement of the embassy.
Frankly, I'd be genuinely amazed if any British embassy didn't have a pub on premises.
Regarding mosquitoes, I don't know if they are bigger but in the deep woods in the Eastern US they can be intense, even outside of swamplands. I hiked through the northern Adirondacks in July 2019 and naively brought some eco-friendly mosquito repellent. I paid for it dearly over the 5 day trip. They were relentless, and the only protection on the trail were hats with nets or heavy duty repellent applied throughout the day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_fly#/media/File:Black_Fl...
maybe you mean Norway or Greenland.. is there any area in Scotland like a harsh Nor' Eastern winter storm ?
macintux•8mo ago
> In early April, an unfortunate British soldier walked into a snake that was hanging from a branch. It bit him in the eye. ‘He felt such intense pain’, a physician noted, ‘that he was unable to proceed’. Though the man’s comrades attempted to suck the venom from him, the man died ‘with all the symptoms of putrefaction’: bloated, skin coloured yellow, his eye dissolved.
I can't imagine trying to suck venom from someone's eye.