A gadfly can be an actual fly – an annoying one. Horse flies and botflies irritate horses, cattle and people. I suppose that in rushing about trying to avoid being bitten by the pesky things, it might seem from a distance that their victims are on the gad.



A gadfly is also a person who upsets the status quo. Why anyone would want to I’m not sure – don’t we all love rocking all over the world…? Sorry.

On our trip to the Outer Hebrides, Gary and I had very little trouble with midges, but on Eriskay we were plagued by horse flies at one particular spot.