Scientists at the University of Glasgow have received more than 700 reports of mosquitoes from across Scotland, including from Dumfries and Galloway in the south to Shetland in the north, thanks to an “incredible response from the public” to a citizen science project launched last year.
Since May 2024 members of the public have shared hundreds of images of mosquitoes – as well as pictures of bites inflicted by the insects – with researchers via the Mosquito Scotland website.
Mosquitoes are a natural part of Scottish ecosystems and can have positive impacts on the environment through their role in food webs. Whilst mosquitoes can be a source of infectious diseases in some parts of the world, they do not pose a health risk in Scotland at present. However, they can be a source of nuisance biting. Researchers aim to understand their biodiversity and role in the ecosystem, along how the public interact with these insects.
As mosquito activity in Scotland picks up moving towards summer, the Mosquito Scotland team are urging the public to continue sending in their mosquito sightings, which will enable the project to accurately track and understand the ecology of these insects.
While most of the 21 different mosquito species present in Scotland don’t bite people, this study found that several species can be source of nuisance biting, indicating that human exposure to the insects is higher across Scotland than is commonly thought.
Sightings of mosquitoes were sent to the Mosquito Scotland team every month in the last year, with reports peaking in the spring and summer, but also continuing in cooler months right up to December. Mosquitoes were spotted across the length and breadth of Scotland, with a sighting in the Shetland Isles now the northernmost mosquito record for the UK.
Mosquitoes have been spotted in many different habitats across the country, but reports show that they are most commonly reported in woodland areas – particularly in pine forests in the east of the country, as well as indoors in large urban centres such as Glasgow.
The team also received many reports of mosquito nuisance, where mosquitoes had not only been spotted but had actively been trying to bite people, sometimes in large numbers. Through follow up work, the research team were able to confirm three mosquito species, Aedes cantans, Aedes punctor and Aedes rusticus, as the main source of nuisance biting in Scotland. All these species are native to the UK and are known to bite humans.
Dr Georgia Kirby, the researcher running the citizen science survey, said: “There were several areas of Scotland where we received lots of reports of bites but very few photos of the culprits – understandably, as most people don’t want to hold still for a photo while they’re being bitten by insects.
“We had suspected that midges or clegs could be responsible, but in our follow-up investigations we invariably found that these locations were swarming with mosquitoes – proving that people in Scotland are good at recognising them and distinguishing them from more familiar insects. Most of these sites were areas of dense woodland, which is a key habitat for several aggressive human-biting mosquito species.”
Although mosquitoes do not currently pose any infectious disease risk to humans in Scotland, their bites can cause itching, discomfort and local swelling. The research team want to raise awareness that people can be exposed to mosquito bites in Scotland, and provide guidance on simple precautions to prevent this. This includes applying insect repellent and wearing long sleeves during summer months when mosquitoes are active in forested areas. These methods can also protect against other biting pests such as ticks and midges.
Heather Ferguson, Professor of Infectious Disease Ecology at the University of Glasgow, who leads the project, said: “We are delighted and grateful for the positive response and enthusiasm from members of the public for this project. Their participation has helped fill large gaps in our understanding of mosquitoes both in Scotland and the UK more generally, which is allowing us to build a picture of how the biodiversity benefits, and any potential risks, posed by these species will respond to environmental change. We would love to hear more from the public in 2025.”
Mosquito Scotland is a collaborative project between the University of Glasgow, the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH). The project incorporates the views of stakeholders from Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Government and environmental agencies.
Professor Dominic Mellor, Consultant in Veterinary Public Health at Public Health Scotland, said: “The Mosquito Scotland project is playing a vital role in helping us to understand more about the mosquito species we have in our country. In particular, the citizen science aspects are providing detailed information, previously lacking, about the presence and diversity of mosquito species that are being found across Scotland. Such information is invaluable in helping us understand and prepare appropriately for potential risks to public health that might arise as a result of climate change.”
The project, which was awarded a £1.25m grant from UK Research & Innovation and DEFRA in 2023, is the first to assess the risk of mosquito-borne pathogen emergence in Scotland under current and future climate change scenarios. Researchers aim to find out which mosquito species are present in Scotland, where they are found, whether they are harbouring any diseases currently or if they could become infected by pathogens that may expand into the UK with climate change.
To date, researchers have found mosquitoes in almost every place they looked, covering the length and breadth of Scotland. Efforts to find and trap mosquitoes across Scotland are being led by Dr Georgia Kirby and PhD Scholar Meshach Lee in the University’s School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine. So far, they have collected more than 4000 mosquitoes across Scotland, in a range of locations, from parks in urban Glasgow to nature reserves on the northern coast of the country.
The Mosquito Scotland website has instructions on how the public can join the search by registering a mosquito sighting and uploading a photo, with tips on how to recognise these insects, and information on their ecology. People can request a follow-up from the research team about the type of mosquito they have found (if a good quality photograph is submitted) or send dead mosquitoes for identification.
The information is used to understand how common some mosquitoes are across the country, and which types are most likely to be found around people. Crucially the data will be used to generate baseline information for longer-term monitoring of how mosquitoes respond to climate change.
Dr Emilie Pondeville, Senior Research Fellow at MRC-University of Glasgow (CVR), who co-leads the project, said: “We have been delighted to see such a participation to the Mosquito Scotland citizen science project. The data gathered is invaluable for understanding mosquito biodiversity in Scotland and assessing the potential risks these species may pose as the climate changes. We look forward to engaging with even more participants in 2025.”
While mosquitoes do not currently pose a risk to public health in Scotland, they are already able to transmit diseases to birds in other parts of the UK. Birds in both wild populations and zoos (e.g. penguins) have been significantly affected by mosquito-borne pathogens such as Usutu Virus and avian malaria in England, and the research will help assess if similar threats are present in Scotland.
Throughout the project, researchers will be conducting surveillance of mosquitoes and screening migratory birds across Scotland for the presence of emerging zoonotic pathogens, including West Nile and Usutu viruses; and results will be used to model the risk of pathogen introduction and transmission.
