Ticks

Removed my first tick of the season last night. Be careful - they’re hungry.

73

Richard
G3CWI

They do seem to like you don’t they? Did you collect it from SP-015 on Sunday or somewhere else yesterday?

I’ve never had one, but I must admit that I have long since stopped activating in shorts!

Tom M1EYP

In reply to M1EYP:

They are ugly little beggars, aren’t they? (The ticks, not the shorts!)

They tend to be most plentiful where there are a lot of sheep, unfortunately that is many of our hills so it is difficult to avoid them.

73

Brian G8ADD

No sheep on The Cloud Brian, but no shortage of ticks (allegedly).

Tom M1EYP

In reply to G3CWI:

I’ll see your tick and raise you by the 30 or so I had after camping in Glen Garry the other week :slight_smile: Well I stopped counting after about a dozen, but there were LOTS. All tiddlers though and some of them must have been hitching on my bag, one I only found on my arm a couple of days later and I reckon it must have found me when I was unloading the car.

Iain, M3WJZ

In reply to M3WJZ:
We have never had ticks attach themselves to us but the dog seems to find them.Last time was April in the lakes.Geoff & Joan

In reply to M1EYP:
They don’t need sheep Tom - any mammal will do.
In Scotland its the deer they prefer. Like Geoff I’ve found they prefer dog to humans :slight_smile:
She even picked one up on North Berwick Law (three days after I had removed the three from Ros Hill).

Roger G4OWG

ps I believe the ones on Red deer like to drop onto their prey from trees.

In reply to G4OWG:

ps I believe the ones on Red deer like to drop onto their prey from trees.

What like some kind of leopard? :wink:

Deer and trees don’t mix. Ask any forest owner! Most deer ticks are caught when you brush against long grass or bracken that is harbouring a tick that is just waiting for a nice juicy target to come along.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

I had a delightful mental image of ticks parachuting or abseiling onto the backs of deer, don’t spoil it for me, Andy!

Plenty of deer under trees in Scotland, both red and roe, but they certainly don’t mix with young plantings!

73

Brian G8ADD

In reply to MM0FMF:
Maybe Forresters would like to believe that Andy but deer actually like trees.
A Gillie on an estate in Loch Carron told us to be wary of ticks from the coppices near the Locheen as the deer had been removing their velvet against them. I ended up with a tick on my head, the grass certainly wasn’t 5’ 6" high :slight_smile: but the antlers were.

Roger