by charlie | Aug 23, 2023
One day in August, while out on a recce walk prior to heavy bracken strimming at Fisherton Wood, north of Dunure, we met an ACP walker with heavy rucsac and shorts – and with his long socks pulled up to deter ticks. Well, after tramping along that bracken path, I checked my legs carefully when I got home on Thursday – and found nothing. The next day, I wore the same (Gardening) trousers for a short seashore walk to Greenan Castle – and then in the afternoon while ladder pruning the cotoneasters along our lane wall. None of this was tick territory. On Saturday morning when I got up at seven, I felt a suspicious itch on my lower left calf – and found a wee black tick!! It must have crawled inside my trouser leg on Thursday, and snuggled down there till I wore them again on Friday – which is a warning to us all that these evil wee beasts can lurk around in our clothing – and get us the second time round! Fortunately – and it had to be using my left hand – I managed to engage and unscrew its body anti-clockwise (apparently they burrow in using a clockwise rotation) with my larger O’Tom Tick Remover – still intact, complete with head – and still alive, then swabbed the site with surgical spirit, and rubbed in some antibiotic ointment for good measure. NB – Trying to pull it out simply by grabbing its body with tweezers or fingernails, will almost inevitably separate the body from its head, which will remain buried, and during this...
