About Us

Midge Specs began, like many Scottish innovations, to try to put up with midges and a refusal to let them win!

Tim Parkin is a photographer and climber based in the West Highlands of Scotland. Years of working behind a camera and moving over rock had one persistent problem. He could not see properly when it mattered. Viewfinders vanished behind fogged glasses. Small hand and footholds blurred into guesswork. Add midges to the mix and the usual solutions, bulky nets and awkward headwear, made things worse rather than better.

Rather than tolerate it, Tim started experimenting. What began as a personal fix turned into a long process of trial and error, tested on friends, family, and long-suffering climbing partners.

Tim experimented with different materials, which were swapped, different glasses were tried out, and attachment methods were strengthened. Each iteration answered one problem while creating another, until eventually the balance felt right. Simple, robust, and actually usable in the conditions it was designed for.

From a small climbing and workshop shed in the garden in Ballachulish, Tim developed the prototypes for Midge Specs and took them through to a finished product.