Howefamily

We are in NS on our recce and adore it, but I am, it seems, a magnet for all flying biting insects. I have met the blackfly and the deerfly (looks and bit like a horsefly) and I had to bat it away with two hands from my leg! I had leggings on, may I add not yards of exposed flesh.
Yesterday eve, I left our apartment and walked into a thick mob of what looked like mozzies.

Now, I undertsand that if I want to live here, I need to put up and shut up, and I am prepared to do this but just wondered if there are places one can look to buy a house where that adorable little lot are less inclined to reside.
I know that Blackfly like still water but I have also read that they need running water.
Is it if you are near woods also?

Thanks all

daisychain

I was wondering about them to as we are hopefully headed to muskoka in ontario and would like a place on the lake

Do you know if there is a 'season' for them? When they come and go?

Good luck with your recce we are doing ours in October!

pinkkristen

Apparatly the black flies are particularly bad now (there hatching season) and then they quieten down futher into summer. My friends went there a couple weeks ago and got bitten constantly!

pinkkristen

I don;t know much about NS, apart from my neighbour comes form there. She said that her sister who lives in a town there, has mozzies etc all the time, on an evening they sit in a mesh type thing outdoors.
When my neighbour moved here she couldn't believe the lack of bugs - where myself thinks there are a few too many critters!
Maybe NS is just like that - but you'll grow immune to them after a while, they'll just be givng you the initiation test

Good luck.

daisychain

Thanks! Can't wait!!

budcolin

I failed the initiation test miserably bitten on the foot by a blackfly....foot swollen like a balloon, and on anti-biotics

Have I learnt my lesson??????No, bitten again last night

Atlantic Xpat

May to November.

izzi81

We've done two NS recce trips, one in September and one in April, and didn't really notice any bug problem. It is something I've heard about though, so I guess it's just summer?

Simon Legree

If you mean a place on Lake Muskoka I assume that you have had a look at the properties on offer. I know of a nice place on Walkers Point that could probably be had for as little as $1.5 million !!! Lakes Muskoka, Joseph and Rosseau are very likely some of the most expensive real estate sites in Canada. Yes, they have bugs there too. Black Flies, mozzies, no-see-ums etc. They are seasonal. To get away from them you simply take a boat ride on the lake.
Personally, for repellent I use bacon fat and eucalyptus oil

daisychain

I don't think it will be there but there are many lakes to choose from where our budget will stretch to in the Muskoka area!

Greenhill

After mid-spring, there's not very many of them up here at all. There's almost always a constant breeze over the hilltop, however, I'm not exactly sure if it's the wind that keeps their numbers low or that there's no water (standing, brooks or rivers) or woods within a few hundred feet of the house.

Closer to the water it's a different story though (and don't even think about going near a river during dusk without repellent!)

Howefamily

Thanks all, I think we need to look for somewhere that has some space between it and the woods and the nearest standing water or river. Thats going to be no mean feat, there are a lot of trees here!
Having said all that, if I get a lake view I will put up with anything that bites me!

Cookie

Here is the Canada bug report website:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/ind...cancitiesns_en

This is high bug season. I am sporting a swollen neck where I was bitten yesterday. Actually had blood running down my neck Already been bitten a couple of times in the head I still get back reactions to bites and this will be my 4th summer. My house is surrounded by trees which is great for them but not for me at this time of the year.

You have to use bug spray to try and keep them away but it doesn't always work, plus you don't always remember to put it on. Bugs also have a way of biting that tiny patch of flesh that was missed during spraying. I have bought a 'natural' type spray today and will let you know how I get on. I smell like citronella.

Stock up on Afterbite, antihistamine tablets and Benedryl cream!

nldfc

Always found citronella as good as if not better than the high deet containing sprays

engineer80

We just returned from our recce to NS end of May and we had no problems whatsoever with insects. OH is a magnet for insects but this time he seemed fine! Someone out there told us the best repellent for insects in NS was a brand name lotion - I forget the name but if I think of it I'll let you know.