A GROWING number of residents have been reporting red bites over the weekend in Warrington with mosquitoes thought to be at the centre of the itchy problem.  

Our photographer Mike Boden was bitten during Hatton Show with many others reporting on Facebook and Twitter they had been attacked by mozzies in Great Sankey and Penketh. 

It is thought warmer weather over the past week has led to the invasion. 

Jolyon Medlock, scientific programme leader with Public Health England’s (PHE’s) Medical Entomology team, said: "Mosquito levels tend to peak in July and August particularly in hot and wet summers. "Some species will take advantage of the warm weather and water-filled habitats, like water butts or paddling pools to breed, particularly those without covers that collect leaves."

To avoid bites, advice is to cover water butts, remove leaves and change the water regularly in bird baths and paddling pools and try to stay indoors when mosquitoes become most active, around dusk and dawn. 

Unlike the tropics, mosquitoes in this country are not currently known to transmit any infections.