It's summertime and the mosquitoes are back! But even though the blood-suckers thrive in warm weather, the good news is that Government's top bug man feels he's bringing the scourge under control.

"Our programme is designed to deal with the larva stages of the mosquito,'' said Supervisor of Pest Control George Simons.

"What happens is during periods of excessive amounts of rain there are ditches and ponds that help to take off excess water from roadways etc.

"Basically these areas become super saturated with water and we are left with extra ponds.

"It is those areas that can form great problems to us. For example, the ditches are normally at a certain level they rise and overflow and flood surrounded areas. These areas become ideal for female mosquitoes to lay their eggs. They can lay up to 100 eggs.

"People cannot normally see these areas. Therefore you have to look carefully for them. The mosquitoes will breed and go undetected until people notice an abundance of mosquitoes in certain areas.

"We have gotten to know these breeding areas and others which are normally in old or abandoned tanks etc.'' Mr. Simons added: "Most ditches and ponds have tiny fish, such as guppies, and they are a natural predator of mosquito larva or fly larva. Mosquitoes are their specific target.'' "When we identify a breeding ground we make sure we have an adequate supply of fish and we have a non-chemical pesticide that is a bacteria that controls the larvae.'' Mr. Simons suggests homeowners protect their own yards by looking out for anything that can hold water, like old flower pots, cans, tyres, etc.

"It is important to get the water out of these containers because if they are abandoned a female mosquito will search them out and lay her eggs.

"Mosquito larvae is easy to detect you just have to see movement, something that has a wriggling motion and they come up for air.'' He also said: "The number of complaints we have gotten have already dropped from two to three weeks ago when there was a lot of rain,'' Mr. Simons said.

He added: "A lot of people think they are a problem only in the summer but that is not so, however, they do prefer the warmer weather for breeding. In the winter the larval period is longer.'' Mr. Simons added that his crew are actively combating mosquito infested areas all year around.

"The ditch crew clear around the canal and flooded areas so we can see the larvae and take action. They trim the edges back and cut the overgrowth to make seeing the larvae easier.

"We want homeowners to be apart of the solution as well. It is important that they call in when they notice there is a mosquito problem in their yard. It often means that they are adjacent to the areas that we know of.'' And for what to use when you want to sit outside and not get bitten Mr. Simons suggested commercial repellents or calamine lotion.

He also closes screens on sliding glass doors and uses screens or netting while camping.

BATTLING THE BUG -- Pest Control workers cut back growth around the canals off Parson Road to make detecting mosquito larvae easier.