Perthshire Midges in April — Risk, Peak Times, Kit
Effectively no midges. Plan freely. A buffer zone between worst (west) and best (south-east). Big Perthshire — Atholl, Rannoch, Tay forest — has plenty of midges but the open glens and farmland of Strathmore and the Ochils stay manageable.
Current risk
Perthshire in April: None. Effectively no midges. Plan freely.
When they bite
Out of season — no significant biting activity in Perthshire this month. First proper warmth in the strath valleys (Tay, Tummel, Earn). Glens warming slower; Lawers tops still in transition. Ground temperatures still below the midge emergence threshold across the region.
What to wear
No specific kit needed for midges in Perthshire this month. Build the kit list around weather, daylight and route choice.
Tactical notes
April is the last reliably midge-free month in Perthshire and one of the best windows of the year for the region. The strath valleys — Strathtay, Strathtummel, Strathearn — warm up first; the long enclosed glens lag by a fortnight; the Lawers range and Atholl tops still see snow patches into late April. The midge population is not yet emerging anywhere; mid-April Perthshire trips can include lochside camps, riverside bothy nights and full glen traverses without any insect tax.
This is the prime time for the long [Glen Lyon](/glens/glen-lyon) traverse (the longest enclosed glen in Scotland at 56km, running from Fortingall to the Loch Lyon dam). The full road end at Pubil with the Lawers ridge towering north and the Carn Mairg ridge towering south, the bracken just starting to green, the river running cold — one of the great April Highland landscapes. Same is true of [Glen Tilt](/glens/glen-tilt) from Blair Atholl to the Cairngorms boundary, and the long [Strath Fillan](/glens/strath-fillan) corridor at the west edge.
For hill days, the Ben Lawers range is at its best of the shoulder season. The full ridge of seven Munros — [Ben Lawers](/hillwalking/munros/ben-lawers), [Beinn Ghlas](/hillwalking/munros/beinn-ghlas), [An Stuc](/hillwalking/munros/an-stuc), [Meall Garbh](/hillwalking/munros/meall-garbh-fife-perthshire), [Meall Greigh](/hillwalking/munros/meall-greigh), [Meall Corranaich](/hillwalking/munros/meall-corranaich), [Meall a' Choire Leith](/hillwalking/munros/meall-a-choire-leith) — works in April with lingering snow on the high cols and a clean midge baseline. [Schiehallion](/hillwalking/munros/schiehallion) for the iconic single Munro day, [Beinn a' Ghlo](/hillwalking/munros/beinn-a-ghlo-carn-nan-gabhar) for the long Atholl three. The [Carn Mairg](/hillwalking/munros/carn-mairg) Glen Lyon north-side round gives a long quiet four-Munro day. [Ben Vrackie](/hillwalking/corbetts/ben-vrackie) above Pitlochry and [Ben Chonzie](/hillwalking/munros/ben-chonzie) from Crieff give shorter options. Head net stays in the gear cupboard.