Skye's midges come out when the wind drops. Ticks are the part to take seriously.

Yes, and on a still, damp summer day they can be severe. The Highland biting midge swarms from June to September, worst at the Fairy Pools, in sheltered glens and at campsites around dawn and dusk, and a breeze or strong sun grounds it. The midge isn't known to spread disease to people, so the bite-borne risk on Skye's hills comes from ticks.

When and where the midges bite

Adult midges emerge in May and June. The director of the Scottish Midge Forecast has said the biggest peak usually comes in the first week of June after a warm May, with a second generation about six weeks later, in mid-July, and sometimes a third in September. A cold spring can push the season back by two to three weeks, and September eases as the nights cool. Our Scotland midge briefing covers Glencoe, Loch Ness and the rest of the country.

The Highland midge, Culicoides impunctatus, causes more than 90% of biting attacks on people in Scotland, and about a third of people in a 2010 questionnaire study reported bad or severe reactions. It is a weak flier, and in lab tests a population from northeast England flew only once the air reached 57°F (14°C). On Skye, wind and strong sun keep midges away, while calm, overcast weather brings them out. The Fairy Pools in Glen Brittle draw midge complaints on still days, and sheltered, boggy campsites such as Glenbrittle and Sligachan tend to be worst at dawn and dusk. Exposed ridges such as the Quiraing tend to catch more breeze.

Forecast, head net and repellent

Check the Scottish Midge Forecast the night before. It rates the risk from level 1 (negligible) to level 5 (nuisance) using trap and weather-station data, so you can save the Fairy Pools, the Quiraing and campsite evenings for breezy or sunny spells. Keep a fine-mesh midge head net in the daypack, since ordinary mosquito netting is too coarse. Picaridin 20% or DEET 20–30% on exposed skin helps and also deters ticks; our picaridin vs. DEET comparison explains the choice. Long sleeves and pants cover the rest at dawn and dusk. The west of Ireland has the same kind of midge evenings, covered in our Ireland briefing.

Ticks and Lyme disease

Skye is part of NHS Highland, which had Scotland's highest Lyme disease rate in lab data from 2008–2013, with 44.1 lab-confirmed cases per 100,000 people a year against 6.8 for Scotland. A 2024 study of the family-doctor practices in the north of NHS Highland estimated about 124 cases per 100,000 a year for 2017–2022 from clinical records, roughly twice the lab-based rate. Bare hills aren't tick-free. On the treeless Western Isles, Lyme disease has emerged in open moorland, and in a 2024 survey of Scottish hill runners, 82.5% had at least one tick bite in the previous year, with full leg cover linked to much lower odds of a bite. CDC's UK page also lists tick-borne encephalitis, which the UK Health Security Agency says is very focal, including in parts of Scotland.

On hill walks, tuck pants into socks or wear gaiters, and consider permethrin-treated clothing. Check your whole body each evening and remove any tick promptly with fine-tipped tweezers. A spreading red rash or a flu-like illness in the weeks after means a doctor visit; say you walked in the Highlands. CDC's Level 2 Global Polio notice lists the UK, so make sure your polio vaccination is complete.

Where you're going

How Skye's main stops compare for a June–September trip.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from a TripAdvisor thread and a review and linked so you can read them in full. Neither is dated, and a midge day on Skye changes with the wind and the weather.

• Isle of Skye · July

  Experiences varied: one poster had no trouble on a July trip while another was badly bitten at a summer barbecue. Posters agreed wind and strong sun keep midges away and calm, damp, overcast weather brings them out, that boggy ground and sheltered glens are worst, and recommended Smidge or Avon Skin So Soft (with mixed results) plus a cheap head net, checking the Smidge midge forecast. TripAdvisor ↗

• Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye

  A reviewer titled the visit 'Not what we'd hoped' and named the midges and the mud as the major disappointments, adding that the walk was challenging because they had to keep watching their feet. TripAdvisor ↗

As on any trip, a fever during or after it means a doctor visit, and you tell them where you were, including any hill walks on Skye.

Traveler questions