Ticks, ticks and more damned ticks!!!!!

The pesky little b***ers got us good and proper on Saturday whilst hunting for box 7 onwards on the Wreckers walk...... So be aware, granted I was abit silly going out in 3/4 length trousers (it was hot!), but Gren and James were pretty well covered up and poor old James was covered in them...... But we did go tramping through the bracken which was quite high for a 5.5 yr old I suppose....... God I'm such a bad mother!!!!

Couldn't find number 7 for love nor money, got 8 and 9 fairly easily and headed home to do the others another day.... saw a lovely sunset on the way down, beautiful evening.....shame about the Ticks!

Sorry to hear about the ticks. I had a different problem today, sunstroke and too many horseflies - gosh, do they bite. My poor legs. I was also a little silly, wearing shorts, but not usually a problem.

I've still to do the Wreckers Morris walk.

Sorry to hear you've got Sunstroke

I did remark to hubby that I was glad we weren't up there today.... it was a sorcher!!!! Although saying that we were in fact on the back of a farm trailer looking a ruby red devon cattle whilst on a farm visit.... without sunblock or hat so I know how you feel.....one arm is definately redder than the other!!!

Glad you are pointing out a couple of the hazards that are around at this time of year.
A good way to remove these annoying beggars is to scrape them off with a knife and treat the area with antiseptic - tea tree is good for this. Prevention is better covered from foot to neck. As the little bleeders crawl get someone to look you over when you get home especially children.

If you could be so good as to start a thread saying what areas the tick problem is prevalent.
The other biggest problem with going out on Dartmoor at this time of year is dehydration, just because it is a nice sunny day dehydration can be as effective as drinking two or three pints of beer. Your concentration falls considerably. Drivers beware.

When the weather is like this expect you need for fluids to triple. An all day session you should be looking at consuming at least 4- 6 litres of water. An obvious sign to watch out for is when you stop sweating

So be careful folks.

Thanks for the tips Nik.

I always wear full length trousers on the moor. I do so due to experience. I recall having eight ticks on my legs once. My legs were itching for a good week or more afterwards

Saw a very sick looking sheep on pupers hill on saturday.
I believe it has Louping ill - a sheep disease spread by ticks
I spoke to the farmer who owns it, and he said that he has lost about 40% of his flock to louping ill since bringing sheep down from the lake district.

Is Louping ill not such a problem up North then?
40% seems an absolute savage loss

Not entirely sure, he reckoned that one of the sheep had it when he brought them down here and the the large tick numbers on the moor have spread it like wild fire. 40% is an awfully high loss.

40% seems awfully high - I would suspect it is that in conjunction with something else like Cryptospyridium.

If you are going to drink the water be wary and if you can boil it first - this hot weather and heavy downpours will not alleviate the problem.
Sadly we need a sustained period of rain and cooler weather

Back to the ticks... there is only one thing worse than ticks.... and that is midges, especially the vampire types. That is the only time I will wear a hat, long sleeves and trousers tucked in at the socks even on the hottest day!
A few years back after one of the Ten Torrs walks a couple of guys were counting up the bites they had over a thousand each - they must have itched like hell afterwards

40% is bad but sadly not unusual, morbidity rates range from 5 to 60%.

Plenty of cryptosporidium on the moor too, causes nasty diarrhoea in lambs, any anyone daft enougth to drink unsterilised water!

Covered in insect bites at the moment from the weekend, you don't notice them untill you get home and start to itch! hate them!

The Sly Fox wrote:Thanks for the tips Nik.

I always wear full length trousers on the moor. I do so due to experience. I recall having eight ticks on my legs once. My legs were itching for a good week or more afterwards

Makes no difference how much one covers up. Ticks will till get you.
We remove them with tweezers. Must have had over 100 in our time. Hate the things with a passion.

In case anyone is interested, I am giving a talk entitled "Ticks on Dartmoor" at The Wharf, Tavistock, on Mon. 30th. Nov. starting at 2.0 pm, it is a two-and-a-half hour "tea-time" event under the auspices of the John Taylor Festival. I'll be talking for about an hour. It is much the same as the talk that I did for the Plymouth group but with a few different jokes (I hope, I can't remember!) and some new photos and video clips.

There is a web page about the festival with mention of the talk here: John Taylor Festival

The web site for the tick watch project is Dartmoor Tick Watch

Keith