It would appear that in the past couple of weeks nature has reversed the roles in France and it is now us that are fair game for being bitten by many differing insects. We are now the subject of The Hunt!
This is probably a very daft question - over time do we become less delicious to insects? I am interested to hear from people who have been here for a 5+ years are you now bitten less than you were when you first arrived?
(i do remember thinking last November finally the biting had stopped).
Given the number of medicaments Iâm on the critters die if they bite me 
Every cloudâŠ
I think the longer you have lived here/anywhere, you become more aware of what might bite and recognise the âthreatâ. Personally, I donât get bitten that often, but I swear that drinking beer keeps the little critters away. It must be true as OH doesnât drink beer, but gets bit 
83 years old. It doesnât get better! The only options are to learn to live with it or stay indoors. . . . .
Or maybe you could get one of those Aussie hats with corks strung from the brim?
Certainly worth testing your hypothesis!
Nope, been here 12 years and they still bite me. OH says itâs great being round me because I get bitten and he doesnât.
I would rather not, but the only way I get a decent nightâs sleep is to have one of the mosquito killing machines plugged in beside the bed.
Height of the season when weâre eating on the terrace I put a smoldering mosquito coil on a plate on the ground under the table - otherwise they go for my ankles.
Wasps hate me and I have an allergic reaction to their stings. There comes a point in the summer when I basically have to give up gardening because they make their nests on twigs in the bushes and Iâm bound to disturb them. For the moment, they are still pretty sleepy in the mornings so thatâs when I get on with pruning etc.
Night markets, etc, I smother myself in mosquito repellent (and then wonder why no one comes near me!)
Iâve also got a couple of the little UV light thingies you can hang outside and I leave guests in the cottage candles based on citronella which they can light and put on the table outside.
At the moment Iâve a cluster of small bites round my wrists where my gardening gloves finish. They are midge or harvest mite bites. If I manage to avoid scratching them they subside after a few hours. Mosquito bites no - they last on me for a week to 10 days.
Chinese balm / tiger balm I find helps reduce the irritation
When I lived in Corsica, not a night went by when I didnât get bitten by mozzies if any skin was left exposed. I tend not to notice as much now, and the Auvergne is colder in winter so fewer of the b******* to get me.
Iâm not five years plus(more like five months) but I canât help thinking that nature has got the better of us because of the reduction in pol
lution. I have never seen as many butterflies in my life! Nature seems to have revived itself a whole lot so we maybe have to take the bites with the beauty??
The worst bites I ever had in France were from what resembled ordinary flies but packed a punch
Deer fly
And horse fly
Probably deer fly , we have deer close by and the little bar steward on my arm seemed small for a horse fly
I suppose the cream was expensive Eddie
(deer fly - expensive) - I promise not to give up my day job yet 
The answer is a definite No!
I have not been bitten this year by the larger flies, but little ones that I canât see and leave tiny red lumps which are extremely itchy.
I now cover myself with spray and sleep under a mosquito net.
The question of who gets bitten is one which all medical research seems to be unable to solve.
We get cluster flies from the cattle.
I use a Dapis stick to put on as soon as I realise I have been bitten. It works well and smells wonderful.
I also Sedermyl pour piqures.
Well, thatâs all very depressing, from the âget bittenâ folks.
I aim to do the âhĂ©bergement - 90 dayâ thing at a palâs place near Fumel [47]. Last time I stayed there I was bitten/stung badly - nasty wounds. I never saw the enemy and my pal, who has lived in the place for going on 20 years, had no idea what insect was attacking me. He reported that vistors who came a couple of weeks after me had no problems.
I shall go equipped with every chemical I think will keep them off me.
Yup, it is. Which is one of the reasons why I so love spring, autumn, and winter here as in BM (before mosquitoes) and AM (after mosquitoes)
I was bitten by a fly in the house in November, through my sock. Jim whacked it and there was my fresh blood on the ceiling!
After my first trip to Trinidad I swore I was done with anywhere where mozzies were an issue. I should have stuck to that but The High Maintenance Blond in Port of Spain said, a couple of years later, âCome for Christmas. Stay as long as you like âŠâ
At the time, that was an offer I could not refuse.
Something odd had happened to the Trini climate. Instead of the âChristmas breezes, nahâ the rainy season continued, on and on and on. And on and on. In two months there was not a spell of 3 days consecutively with no rain and only two pairs of two days without. The temp in Port of Spain does not help. The graph is flat. The next 13 days there are all forecast at 31C except Tues 16th which is a merciful 30C.
The mozzies were in heaven, especially the ones infesting Pomme Rose Avenue. It was a massacre. I have the photos to prove it but they are too Tropical Diseases text book to show.
The thing about Trini is that itâs a dengue zone. Dengue mozzies fly by day. One is extremely vulnerable. In fact my first trip there had me back in UK feeling rough. âSpots on chest. Feverish ⊠Yup. Dengue. Nip next door for a blood test âŠâ
If you are tempted by the marketing hype of a repellant called âIncognitoâ [âgenuine citronella from Javaâ â⊠as used by the Eng cricket squad in the W.I.â - doubtless a box of freebies] read on review on AMZ. Second last, 2 star]