UKC

Anyone else seeing a lot of ticks this year so far?

Bit of background.

I'm lucky enough to spend about a quarter of most years in NW Scotland and when I'm there I use a trail camera to record the local wildlife.

Fairly frequent, usually night time, visitors are roe deer. This is the first year, out of more eight, that I've seen what I assume are ticks on a deer as it wanders past the camera.

It wasn't a one off occurrence, all the videos of a doe over a period of about six weeks showed ticks on the head or neck.

I wonder if this might be a good year for ticks.

Dave

They're out everywhere.

Seems like a good year for bugs in general; the windscreen splatter is at levels I haven't seen since the mid 00's. More small birds about than I'd expect too.

We havnt had a Cold winter since 2010, the odd cold flurry (I'm looking at you beast from the east) but not a sustained cold spell. Other than 1 blisteringly hot summer it's been warm and damp from mid spring to mid winter.

Perfect breading and survival conditions. 

And it's been baking today

Really? In southern England we've generally had nice weather in the last few days, but barely warm let alone hot. No sign of anything baking, though some half-bakedness around.

Nice and toasty up here

You Lancastrians (I am presuming what you are) are a hardy bunch. You could probably toast bread by breathing on it!

Is halitosis really so bad in the average Lancastrian?

Yes, I’ve never seen so many as I have this year and heard the same from a local farmer - the future looks grim! (Unless you’re a tick)

Yes I've noticed more splats on the windscreen, which is heartening for a natural improvement.

I still see hardly any finches compared to 5-10 years ago. The viral bird pandemic dealt them a heavy blow, as I understand it, across much of Europe.

I’m just back from a week in Torridon where my dog manage to get Lyme disease whilst there. Definitely out in force 

Not seen a greenfinch for ten years but lucky enough to have goldfinches in the garden more or less every day  and chaffinches about once a week

Yes, out in significant numbers here (East Scotland). Had to run away from Rob's Reed crag last week as they were getting all over everything; bag, ropes, shoes, me. 

I too noticed more splats the other day which made me wonder.

With regards to finches, Goldfinches seem to be everywhere, they've obviously adapted to suburban life. And yesterday evening, I unexpectedly saw a Redpoll (female) when walking through the woods to the Wimberry bouldering.

Not sure why I bothered, no strength, no confidence in feet, hardly got up anything and they were the easy punter problems. Just felt old and crap ☹️

Huge numbers this year so far, in my experience. We have been travelling Scotland all Spring and they are a daily thing. Hate them!

We have greenfinches and goldfinches every day in our garden (Cheshire) - and chaffinches. We had a flock of siskin coming every day for while, along with a red poll. but we were away for a week and couldn't refill our feeder and they stopped coming.

There was a report on radio 4 recently (so it must be true...) that they think ticks are rising something like 20% per year at the moment, but I think it was focussed on the south where deer numbers are exploding, I don't know if this is that case in Scotland. 

I removed one from someone today.  It’s now contemplating the error of its ways sellotaped to a glass slide in my microscope.

Deer are a big problem, I advocate eating as many of them as possible.

And if we humans can't eat enough of them then release the lynx!

For my future reference, what were the symptoms?

Just picked up a prescription for doxycycline after my Etive visit on friday. Discovered an engorged tick and rash on my bum yesterday. I've been unfortunate enough to have had Lyme's before. I had sprayed my socks and bottom of trousers with permethin but willl spray top and belt area in future. Judging by the amount of people about Glen Etive I rather suspect we are heading for a Lymes epidemic as presumably many are not sufficiently aware of it.

As someone who didn't really consider the risks of tick bites a few years ago, I am now pretty fussy about treating walking gear with EX4 before I go on the hills. I spray the whole garment - socks, the running tights I use, t-shirts and midlayers. A few years ago, before doing this, I got a few bites when floundering around Drygarn Fawr, I washed the fleece normally after I got home but next time I wore it I got several more new bites.

Agree entirely. The so-called monarch of the glen is now a plague, and shooting estates are at least partly responsible for keeping deer numbers artificially high for the benefit of lazy rich f@ckers to shoot them without any effort. Estate owners are also the ones who are aggressively against natural predation and because wealth speaks louder than anything else - including a possible Lyme's epidemic - predator reintroduction in Scotland (or anywhere else for that matter) will not happen.

I removed 5 ticks yesterday after a few days of gardening. They were tiny nymphs, too small for a tick remover, so had to scratch them off with my fingernail until it bled to make sure of complete removal.

Oddly Mrs Mac doesn't get bothered by them at all, yet every tick in the known universe would swarm towards me given half the chance. They must like a certain blood type. I'm type A and she is O. Either that or I reek strongly of Bambi.

They're delicious too. It's annoying it's not more widely available in shops and instead viewed as a luxury food. 

I've been picking up ticks gardening this year too - the first time that's ever happened to me. Two in the last week. 

I think that similar to midges or mosquitos, some people are just more attractive to them. If we go out as a family, my Dad, my nephew and I almost always need to remove ticks. My sister, her husband and their other two kids are generally fine. The three of us who get bitten are also favoured by midges and mozzies.

Hells bells, I get upset when I see roadkill badger, deer, fox and dont even like to see a dead rabbit.

Imagine the horror of seeing dead wolves, lynx or even bear at the roadside.

I would really like to eat some locally, and sensitively despatched deer, but unsure where to get it from. There seems to be a lot of dead on the roads.

If it was up to me I would regulate so-called sporting estates until their balls hurt and charge them for the privilege. Strict targets on habitat improvement, biodiversity improvement, erosion control and of course animal welfare. It's not the politics of jealousy I just hate the bastards.

Lynx are too smart for that, you'd never see one. The others are not realistically going to be re-introduced and sully the argument in favour of the Lynx.

I have some in my freezer, shot in a local wood with the owner's blessing. Not sure how 'official' it is or how to find supplies more generally.

Not just Lymes but all the other crap they can carry. TBE is starting to get a foothold in the UK (think mostly England currently) and overall they seem to specialise in carry all the nasty crap.

Special mention to the "make people veggie" alpha gal which has started to be found in Europe as well as the US stronghold.

They have to go, time for an eradication program.

Yes! I was in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs NP last week and saw lots of the little treasures 😬. It was a very warm day. Somehow managed to avoid them (and meticulously checked every clothing seam, inch of skin, etc after getting home). But even back home in the west Midlands this year, I've seen a lot more than usual! I'm blaming the favourable weather we've had for them over the last few years. 😬

Me too. But THE VERY WORST THING is their sense of entitlement 

How is spraying them with deodorant going to work? 

One of our cats is picking them up daily, despite treatments.

I've not found one on me yet despite regular runs through the grass, but am checking every time.
There's lots of deer on the common, and they've just bussed in some cows for the summer grazing - a veritable feast for the b'stards.

Just to add to the ticks, we also have OPM caterpillars.

I do similar, although I haven't used it on anything skin tight so far. I thought the instructions cautioned against that but maybe I'm mistaken. Perhaps that's Agent Orange I'm thinking of.

I think it can cause skin irritation but not for most. I've not had any problems with occasional use.

Alpha gal is fascinating - something you wouldn't believe exists until you read up on it. Annoyingly you then wouldn't be able to eat the deer that carry the ticks.

Reading about alpha gal a few years ago got me wondering about giving myself tiny doses to my blood and building up over the years to train my immune system.  Pretty extreme stuff but so is a future without red meat.  Annoying hard to test first as only old world monkeys and humans are relevant.

If it happens I suppose I could start seasoning my rare steaks with Omalizumab…

Seriously though time to eradicate the ticks through the sterile insect technique.  What could go wrong with culturing billions of ticks and irradiating them?

I've just ordered this to try https://www.bushwear.co.uk/products/bushwear-no-tick-wash-in-repellent?gad_...

Interesting, not sure why they talk about nanotech as it seems it is based on IR3535, a repellant rather than an insecticide. 

If it does what it says then it sounds like good stuff.

Perhaps even the marketing department were too ashamed at the first proofs that said it was “AI enhanced”…

Less flippantly there’s likely more to the profit than the active ingredient, else it’d probably just come out in the wash?

Can’t say I’m a great fan of wash-in repellents / insecticides. Doesn’t 99.9% of it just go straight down the plughole, through the water treatment plant and into the rivers? I prefer spray-on products for that reason. 

cheers. 
Al
 

Thankfully, a TBE vaccine is already available, if TBE gets widespread there.

And a multivalent Lyme vaccine is currently in Phase III trials, should be on the market around 2026, if all goes well.

There is even a Phase II trial of a tick‑killing pill for humans, something like the ones you give your dog. Seems to last up to 30 days.

Yeah, you shouldn't really pour any insecticide like permethrin down the drain afterwards, but dispose of any leftover bath as toxic. It's deadly to cats (when still wet), aquatic organisms and all kinds of nice insects. Best way to neutralise it is using household bleach.

Thankfully, the one OP posted has a very different ingredient, ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate (EBAAP), which seems to be pretty environmentally harmless (so far) and not an insecticide, just a repellent. Still, a spray‑on would be a bit more preferable.

I wasn't aware there are any encapsulated EBAAP formulations that offer lasting repellency, nice! I have only seen it used in short‑term repellent sprays before.

Don't the side effects include p1ssing on lamp posts and sniffing other people's @rses?

I'd still take that over getting a bloody tick anytime!

It's apparently encapsulated in polymeric micro or nanometre sized capsules, so technically, the often misused "nano" moniker might be actually correct here. That might even be a marketing first!

He was picky about when he was eating and just and bit quieter but he’s fine now. I don’t think it has the same effective on them as us, because my vet didn’t seem half as worried as I was.

Just to add, even if tick‑borne encephalitis virus isn't (yet!) that widespread in the UK, I'd suggest getting the TBE vaccine if you regularly travel to some mainland European countries to climb.

Its prevalence in ticks is rising there, and it can be a pretty debilitating disease with some long term effects on memory and brain function with the worse cases. I had a relative "win" the wrong lottery ticket with it and they can still feel the effects many years later.

It's definitely not just the deer (as much as I hate the estates raising them just for shooting, as the cute bambis do a pretty number on the trees as well, without any natural predators) – it's mostly the global warming that raises tick numbers, and likely even their infection rates as well (as more of the infected ones survive winters).

Interestingly, one EU study found that the tick Lyme infection rate in city parks was around double that of in the forests. Sucks! I wonder if that was because of some better conditions in city parks, more mice hosts, or whatever.

I thought a major factor is that sheep dip isn't so toxic anymore, which is great for the farmers, but also less harsh on ticks. 

In some areas maybe but not most.

Pheasants are supposed to be another good source.

Had to pay for it(and the other doses) but recently got my booster after the 1st two doses last year.

And I got to scratch off Switzerland in the pharmacies vaccine map, it was like going to the dentist in the 70s and getting a happy mouth sticker.