I've never picked up a tick in the Pentlands, or GT for that matter – are they out there? You see very few deer around those parts, but sheep are everywhere.

I came in last night from a ride, covered in mud. Crossed my mind that it would be bad to deposit a tick in the flat with the wee man just learning to walk and all.

Aside – I saw a badger on the ride last night, on a muddy track. Never seen one before in me puff.

Not yet, yesterday we had a brief hike though the bracken, but still no ticks.

have seen a couple of badgers now. I climbed up to their sets once in the mistaken belief that they were suicidally steep take offs built onto the side of the hill…

ticks don't need deer – rabbits, rats, even birds'll do (sheep probably also, unless wool stops them getting onto skin)

Funnily enough, I've never got any ticks from the Pentlands although there's enough sheep around you'd have thought it possible. Plenty of deer too – in fact I almost ran into one a couple of weeks back down on the outskirts of Balerno. I don't know which of us got the biggest fright.

There are quite a few badger setts around – but it's a good idea not to mention where they are online. In fact, it might even be worth asking the mods to delete that reference in the first post.