Ticks - report them to this survey

[madelinew]

I spent half term (end of May) camping near Bath and when we returned home to the Isle of Wight, I discovered a tiny tick behind my daughter's ear. She'd been complaining of pain inside her ear and I saw what I initially thought was a piece of fluff behind it. Closer inspection and it proved to be a tick. I did manage to remove it and I'm assuming she picked it up when rolling down a grass bank with her friend in the park below Royal Crescent in Bath. So even Royal Crescent isn't too posh to have ticks!

Tick Watch are asking people to take part in the first ever public survey to monitor the spread if these beasties.

If you have anything to report, please go to this website

Tick Watch

 

[hiraeth]

Thanks for the link, my daughter had one on her side last year, luckily no side effects outher than a lump at the site of the bite. She probably picked it up from playing in the fields where we keep her pony.

 

[madelinew]

My grandmother lost a friend to Lyme disease a few years ago. She lives on the Isle of Skye where ticks are prevalent and she has made me fairly paranoid. Wasn't happy when I found one on my daughter. I've seen them before on animals and had no idea they started off so small. Fortunately all was OK and it is a pretty rare disease but ticks are on the increase across the UK and all of us who enjoy the outdoors need to be aware.

BTW cheap tick removers are available from most vets. Most of the methods of removal that we've been told about over the years aren't actually that clever apparently.