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I have picked up a couple to ticks from riding on the road before. I guess that the little blighters leap from grass verges & undergrowth.
Rewilding seems to be a big thing at the moment too which may increase the risk as verges & hedgerows are more overgrown.
Stop riding in the gutter it only encourages poor overtakes 😂
(That's my victim blaming done for the day).
Ride where motorised traffic clears stuff off the road, not where it clears the stuff to. Riding in the gutter will likely get more punctures too, and then probably expose you to more ticks while fixing them in that grassy verge.
Heading for another tick hotspot on Monday - South Uist. Walking socks and trousers sprayed with permethrin.
"Wherever Mr Charlesworth goes, he finds ticks. But it was a series of drags at Loch Eynort in South Uist that left him “shocked”.The only difference in the two areas he dragged was that large mammals couldn’t access the fenced section.Over a year, he found only seven ticks in that area – but 557 where animals could roam."
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands-islands/5549683/uist-ticks-lyme-disease-deer/
I removed a tick from my wrist the other night after a ride. I was wearing long sleeves, gloves and tights, the only exposed parts of me was my face and neck, and a tiny sliver of wrist between my sleeve and glove. Thankfully no issues from the bite, actually I've had much worse reactions of late to midgie bites, I end up getting itchy raised puss filled lumps that leave a scab for at least a week or two.
Went for a walk around Montepulciano yesterday. GF caught 13 ticks, only one of which managed to take hold despite her wearing long trousers tucked into her socks. I found three on my socks and despite wearing shorts didn't get bitten.
3 to 4 cases of Lymes in 15 houses would mean you need to be in a real , national level tock and Lymes blackspot. Are there lots of deer, sheep, any other obvious reasons why this would be so?
Just pulled one out of my wife's leg. We've had a quiet season for them (so farl.
First one in a while last week on my ankle after riding some neglected overgrown DH tracks. Easy out as it hadn’t really got stuck in, they don’t seem to like the taste of me.Great to see this project ( https://ticksolve.ceh.ac.uk) from Jimfrandisco, and also interesting to hear your professional views on some of the thoughts in this thread. For example: deer appear to be perceived as a prime vector (understandable considering adult ticks may be more likely to travel on larger mammals), but I understood ticks use smaller mammals (vole, mice, rabbits etc etc) as hosts too and were just as likely to pick up a nymph or larval tick from one of the other of their three mobile life stages (larvae, nymph, adult).
I find Adult ticks are usually extremely easy to spot, if you’re looking. Larvae, extremely easy to overlook. Nymphs - in between and usually fairly visible.
Therefore it’d be great to clear another area of confusion is whether larvae ticks can carry Lyme, or Tick Bourne Encephalitis? I’d previously believed they could not, so grateful
For context, I’ve found hundreds of ticks on me, but only a couple of dozen embedded and feeding (usually remove with tick tools). They were very bad on the moors at home in Cornwall in 2020 (16 picked up in one walk) and other hot years, less so this year.
I’ve just returned from a 10 days bikepacking in the Scottish Highlands and think I managed to find every tick before it attached. My riding partner found a couple of nymph or larvae attached and feeding. However, as with any trip which includes camping in wild places; they may be hiding in gear for some time - which is another area to understand: how long before they desiccate and die if indoors when removed from moist undergrowth?
Slight drift anyone seen any horse flies yet?
Clegs? Not yet. And I'd know about it! 😂
We usually get them in spells of hot, still weather and we've not had much of that so far this year.
Should never have mentioned them, turned up today - ****s
Had traces of lymes disease about 20 years ago. Avoided the ticks for many years
Thousands of them in the field where we are building a solar farm near Staveley (Derbyshire)
As for mtb - still ride in shorts
If I'm going to be using spray permethrin which product/brand should I be looking for?
I bought half a litre from this source:
https://www.hedgewitchessentials.co.uk/onlineshop/icaridin-insect-repellent.html
I rode the Ciaran trail back to Kinlochleven. Lots of ferns. I found 3 ticks in the next 2 days. It’s freaking me out. My daughter had Lymes disease about 15 years go. It is difficult to put into words what a difficult and life changing time that was for her.
I use Lifesystems around £9 or £10 from various outdoor shops or online. Seems effective. Note not the same product Bill linked to which appears to be an alternative to deet
https://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/p/lifesystems-ex4-anti-mosquito-spray-E7224033.html.<!--more-->
Not tick related but just following on from the repelent recommendations in this thread.
We've had a lot of mosquito's locally & been getting bothered by daytime biting ones recently.
Today whilst standing in my kitchen sipping on a coffee I got attacked by this failry large beast!
It's an Asian Tiger Mosquito - anyone else come accross these evil pests? Apparently becoming more prevalent across Europe & spreading Denghi Fever & other nasty diseases.
I'm looking at buying some Smidge to protect against ticks on my rides but will that also ward off these daytime biters or should I be looking at something stronger/different??
I went to buy some Smidge earlier and saw they also do a mosquito repellent so I bought some of that instead.
Went camping with the wife up some local hills for the aurora last month. Was a fair bit of bushwacking and found 12 between us the next day.
Walked the east highland way last week but treated boots, socks, trousers, tops, rucksacks and bits of the tent with permithrin before we left. Used a bit of smidge on exposed skin.
No ticks at all for us two, whereas others in the party found quite a few.
Read that treating boots and socks alone reduces chance of tick bite 70x.
Just back from 2 days walking on South Uist, a tick hotspot. Treated trousers and socks with permethrin before going. No ticks despite much wading through bracken.
Bump to remind everyone.
Got two despite riding in long sleeve and trousers with elasticed waist and ankles. One even gone down my sock.
Better get a tick remover and remember the Smidge when we do the KAW in early September
Slight drift anyone seen any horse flies yet?
Posted 1 month ago
One found me in Montgomery 3 weeks ago - hand swelled like an inflated rubber gloves, Welshpool MIU saw me within an hour of me phoning them and gave me some antibiotics and a lecture about needing an alcohol free holiday.
Slight drift anyone seen any horse flies yet?
I've had a surprisingly bug-lsss summer so far - been working in the Western Isles for a couple of weeks, often in dead-calm conditions, out pretty much dawn til dusk - no midges, no clegs, no nothing.
Just back from a week in Argyll - Argyll of the Argyll Midge Festival. Calm, warm, damp conditions, around the lochs amongst the woods and ferns - no midges. My GF who attracts them like a magnet - not one bite.
I was pondering this on a ride yesterday, post rain, warm and muggy and midgeless in ayrshire- and deep in though- drifted off the sustrans path and crashed spreadeagled into a bank of nettles. So finally got that histamine 'buzz' that I must have been subconsciously craving
I am a proper magnet.
We went camping on one of the islands on Loch Lomond a few years ago, from what I remember it was quite neatly groomed unless you went off the main path or area, which I don't think I really did. Me and my wife pulled 31 of them off me over a few days where she had 3 or something. I've had similar incidents over the last year or so and I don't even wear shorts that much. Statistically Lyme disease is probably in the post for me but I have been lucky so far.
How do we remove/kill any that may be lingering on clothing, shoes, rucksacks, etc. ? I'd rather not set it all on fire.
I've read about 54 degree hot wash (bit much for some kit), tumble drying (don't have one).
Also read they'll die in a day or two. I have two tiny ones (1mm) removed same day (after attaching but not engorged), they are now dead after 18 hours in a small plastic sample bag.
I swear if I come to power I'll shoot all the deer in Scotland from the door of a helicopter.
A study by Oxford University's Tick Research Group "The deliberate release of a non-native species amplifies zoonotic disease risk via spillback" suggested that a reduction in the number of pheasants in the environment would significantly reduce Lyme disease in the UK.’
‘In conclusion, we show that the release of non-native pheasants for recreational shooting is associated with almost 2.5 times greater odds of ticks carrying Borrelia sp., the causative agent of Lyme disease’. https://www.authorea.com/users/846585/articles/1234703-the-deliberate-release-of-a-non-native-species-amplifies-zoonotic-disease-risk-via-spillback
A study by Oxford University’s Tick Research Group.....
Literally, rich people making everyone else sick. 😀
You mean "Bloody foreigners coming over here giving us diseases."?
Thats certainly going to be the take by the Mail and Express.