Surprised the harsh winters weren't mentioned. Winters in New England, New York, and parts of Pennsylvania are more severe than anything most British soldiers would have experienced save for those stationed in Canada or from the Scottish Highlands.
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.
Mosquitos are very abundant in the North. Canada, Russia, Siberia and Scandinavia all have huge numbers of them, as well as long spring summer days. Many British soldiers died as they had zero tolerance, and many died with the only wounds being mosquito bites and the systemic infections that followed - there was zero medication of any kind against infections. Some may have lost so much blood that they died from that alone. Having been in Northern Ontario's(Canada) temperate jungles, I have experienced these swarms. Of course I had DEET and screened hats/clothes.
Black flies are even worse because they are a lot smaller and they crawl into small crevices at ankles/neck and gnaw away a piece of flesh to take away = lay an egg. Their cutters are sharp and have a numbing saliva so you can not feel the bites and you notice the bite when the blood suns down = it does not clot because it has anti-clot chemicals along with the numbing chemicals also in their saliva. Again good clothes/hats work well with velcro snugged all around all ankles/wrists/neck. Nets can not be near the skin, as mosquitos can reach across about 1/4" air gaps and get you. Get a hole in the net = they find it.
Now try and work at 90 degrees and 100% humidity = a sweatshop.
Surprised the harsh winters weren't mentioned. Winters in New England, New York, and parts of Pennsylvania are more severe than anything most British soldiers would have experienced save for those stationed in Canada or from the Scottish Highlands. 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…
A question for folks living there, or visited - are the description of fauna at least a bit accurate? Ie oversized mosquitoes (where swamps were not completely drained hundred years ago). Easily 2x the size of regular central european ones (or anywhere I've been really, including malaric ones). As an European, the biggest ones I've seen were in northern Scandinavia. Huge guys, massive swarms of them, sitting on peopl…
>Still, any exposed part of skin had 10-20 bites easily.
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.
A question for folks living there, or visited - are the description of fauna at least a bit accurate? Ie oversized mosquitoes (where swamps were not completely drained hundred years ago). Easily 2x the size of regular central european ones (or anywhere I've been really, including malaric ones). As an European, the biggest ones I've seen were in northern Scandinavia. Huge guys, massive swarms of them, sitting on peopl…
Yes, you can still encounter this in the New England wilderness, particularly in central to northern Maine. But in New England at least, the settlers essentially clear cut the forests and filled in the swamps. Most of the wetlands and old growth forests have been completely erased. For the most part, what forests we have are not much more than a century old, and you constantly run across old foundations and property boundaries when you hike through them.
> Huge guys, massive swarms of them, sitting on people and backpacks in hundreds as they walked. They sound like sandflies. I wouldn’t expect mosquitoes that far north.
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.)
> Alaska would like a word. Worst mosquitoes (both in size and number) I’ve ever experienced ....
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 ....)
Florida has some aggressive species like the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus that are known for spreading diseases like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. We used to chase after the mosquito truck spraying DEET as kids
I did that in Gainesville in the mid-70s… were we friends?
Ha I was more of an 80s kid and not in Gainesville
Florida has some aggressive species like the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus that are known for spreading diseases like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. We used to chase after the mosquito truck spraying DEET as kids
DEET is a repellant not an insecticide? Was it DDT maybe? (Not certain) 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.
I had it wrong. I think it’s just what us laymen called it. Looked it up, it is a pyrethin based spray
Not in most of the US, but the ones in Alaska can mummify a water buffalo in under 5 minutes. Running joke is that the mosquito is "Alaska's state bird"
There are no native water buffalo in Alaska. Are you perhaps thinking of American bison?
> There are no native water buffalo in Alaska.
yea, that just shows you how vicious those mosquitos are!
