Ticks and wild camping!!!

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Vorpal
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by Vorpal »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Force removed it as after I day they feed and infect, now I have a slight infection and a spot.

I would see a GP with that. It's unlikely to be serious, but on the small chance that it is, early treatment is key to preventing serious symptoms.
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hamish
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by hamish »

I usually spend about 4 weeks a year wild camping in Scotland; cycling and sea kayaking. I go for ages without picking up ticks, then I will end up with tens of them in a short space of time. I think whether you pick them up or not is often down to luck... The worst places I have found are Islay and Jura... They aren't always in long grass because I have camped on a short grass next to a beach and got loads of them both on me and climbing up the sides of the tent.

Maybe those who wild camp on the West Coast and haven't ever found any ticks on them are lucky... But I camped on Exmoor once and told the friends I was camping with that I had found some ticks on me. They said they didn't have any - then I showed them how small they ticks are and lo and behold they found some too. They can be smaller than a poppy seed and you really have to search carefully.

I wouldn't mind them if they weren't vectors for nasty diseases.
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pjclinch
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by pjclinch »

hamish wrote:I They can be smaller than a poppy seed and you really have to search carefully.


The Lifeventure remover card has a wee magnifier lens so you can see if those wee dark spots have legs...
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by hamish »

I wear two pairs of reading glasses and use a head torch to search them out!
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by philsknees »

They may be small when they first get you but will certainly be obvious when they've had a good feed!
My suggestion that they're mainly present in long grass and bracken was based on personal experience but also on the fact that deer tend to use that type of vegetation to lay up in. Since the Scottish deer population exploded over the last 30 years or so deer are present, if not obviously so, almost everywhere in the Highlands and their ticks are to be found in all types of vegetation.
A cycling friend camping on what seemed to be a nice cropped grass pitch near Geldie Lodge (upper Dee side) 4 years ago found himself in a surreal situation with a huge circle of ticks surrounding his tent and gradually advancing on him from all sides. He battened himself down for an early night and by morning his inner tent was covered with the things.
I'm beginning to long for the days when the only real problem was the midges with the odd bad year for clegs.........
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by hamish »

The tick larvae do not tend to grow much when feeding - they seem to remain small. It's the adults that engorge and become large and spherical.

High tick numbers are associated with large deer populations - hence Jura being very 'ticky' - but Wales has its fair share even where there are little or no deer. Nothing like in Scotland or Exmoor, but here in Gower ticks are common.
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Paulatic
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by Paulatic »

Research in the NL shows that it’s not the increased number of deer which increases the number of ticks. It’s merely the presence of deer.
found it : [i][/i]
Deer presence rather than abundance determines the population density of the sheep tick


I still maintain the that the clearing of sheep for forestry coupled with spring,dipping of pregnant sheep, loosing favour back in the 80s also helped ticks to thrive. The compulsory dipping periods back in those years were scheduled more to fit with lowland farms and the eradication of sheep scab ( which failed) . I think I also read that ticks were getting resistance to Organo Phosphorus compounds which were heavily used back then as one of the very few approved dips.
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by philsknees »

Hamish: I was of course referring to them feeding on us but I often spot the beggars who are in transit between victims & they're plenty big enough to be seen.

Paulatic: Interesting that, but it seems that once again the scientists have selected a single aspect at the expense of others. If, as has been suggested by other experts, the red deer population of Scotland has more than doubled over the last few decades, surely that increase would be a significant factor in the increase in tick numbers, particularly when the main host is such a wide-ranging species.
I'm sure there are plenty of other significant contributory factors, such as those you've suggested and general awareness of the tick issue is bound to have increased with the rapid rise in the number of humans entering wild country for recreation following the access reforms .
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by Paulatic »

philsknees wrote:Hamish: I was of course referring to them feeding on us but I often spot the beggars who are in transit between victims & they're plenty big enough to be seen.

Paulatic: Interesting that, but it seems that once again the scientists have selected a single aspect at the expense of others. If, as has been suggested by other experts, the red deer population of Scotland has more than doubled over the last few decades, surely that increase would be a significant factor in the increase in tick numbers, particularly when the main host is such a wide-ranging species.
I'm sure there are plenty of other significant contributory factors, such as those you've suggested and general awareness of the tick issue is bound to have increased with the rapid rise in the number of humans entering wild country for recreation following the access reforms .

Apparently not https://rivm.openrepository.com/rivm/ha ... 029/621121

I never witnessed any 'rapid rise' in people visiting my hill (5000 acre) before or after any access reforms. In fact there would be more people roaming there back in the 60s ( herds and families) than there ever is now. Even the Southern Upland Way is grassing over with so few feet compared to back in 1984.
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Vorpal
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by Vorpal »

Weather and climate make a difference, as well. When I was growing up (Wisconsin, USA) the worst years for ticks were ones where a wet spring was followed by a warm, dry summer.

Research suggests that warmer temperatures have expanded tick territory and increased their numbers in some places. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10 ... 00064/full
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Paulatic
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by Paulatic »

Vorpal wrote:Weather and climate make a difference, as well. When I was growing up (Wisconsin, USA) the worst years for ticks were ones where a wet spring was followed by a warm, dry summer.

Research suggests that warmer temperatures have expanded tick territory and increased their numbers in some places. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10 ... 00064/full


I would think that’s very true. The other thing which is a lot more widespread and prevalent, than 30 yrs ago, is Liver Fluke. Which , of course, enjoys warm and wet.
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by philsknees »

Paulatic: Setting the other perfectly valid reasons reasons aside, I must say that I'm still a long way from being convinced that the increasing red deer population isn't a major factor in the increasing Scottish tick population, though next time I'm in a Dutch forest I'll see if their scientific opinion to the contrary holds true over there.
My visits to Scotland over the years have mainly been to the west of the Clyde and north of the Central Lowlands and more recent trips have seen significantly more people about in the Northern Highlands & the Hebrides than I've been used to, even in the supposedly quiet periods that I try to target.

You'll know the score for your neck of the woods, of course, but I'm clearly following crowds heading North which you're not experiencing.
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hamish
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by hamish »

Hamish: I was of course referring to them feeding on us but I often spot the beggars who are in transit between victims & they're plenty big enough to be seen.


I'm not being pedantic without reason here... But whilst you will see adult and nymph ticks fairly easily, the larvae are small and until they realise how small, many people will miss them and not know they are have ticks on them. Ticks of all ages can, I understand, carry Lyme and therefore it is important that people 'get their eye in' and learn to recognise the small ones.

In terms of the perceived increase in tick numbers, I suspect this is partly due to increased recognition of the problem thanks to the increasing awareness of the risk of Lyme disease. I for one would not have noticed the smaller ticks back when I first started wild camping in Scotland over 30 years ago - I would have a cursory look for things at least a couple of mm across that I could easily see on my skin and been satisfied I was tick free if nothing obvious was spotted.

I suspect that any actual increase will be be due to the net effect of multiple factors including climate change , variations in host species populations, changes in agricultural practices, etc. As much as I'd like to see better conservation management in upland UK, I am not sure we would be able to control tick numbers simply by reducing deer numbers.
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by ChrisButch »

The main cause of the steep rise in the SW moors appears to be changes in the moorland vegetation, which in turn are caused by changes in stocking and grazing practices. Reduced grazing, especially of overwintering cattle, has encouraged the rampant spread particularly of bracken (formerly checked by trampling) and of molinia, both of which are favourite tick habitats.
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Re: Ticks and wild camping!!!

Post by Paulatic »

Well would you credit it after 67 years I’ve had my first tick. I felt something sore on my back over a week ago. I thought I’d caught a mole with a nail perhaps. OH has been away and I couldn’t see it in mirror. Been getting sorer all week and asked OH to take a look this morning. Took some pulling off!
All lifetime working amongst them and never a bite. They certainly appear to be more prevalent now. Or is it because I wear merino now?
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