TICKED OFF
ALTHOUGH I much prefer sharing and writing about the nicer things I see and experience, I am also determined not to swerve from the “darker” side of nature and work in the midst of it.
Despite never having been affected by it before, in the past two weeks I have been “bitten” by hogweed.
Not the giant hogweed – which would probably put me in A&E – but just walking along an overgrown bridle path, where I pushed through the “common hogweed” while wearing shorts.
As I say, something I have always done with no adverse effects – I wonder if the recent hot weather has made it more “vicious” – but this time I have come out in quite a noticeable rash. It doesn’t itch or hurt but neither does it look like it’s going away any time soon. Good job my modelling days are over!
And – even worse – in the past week I have picked up two ticks. It makes me shudder even writing that. I absolutely hate them and despite having had to remove them from Yogi now and then, have never ever had any on myself before. Thankfully both were noticed in their infancy and were easy to remove but you have to be really careful if they have “settled in”. Always use a proper tick-removing tool to ensure that you remove all of the tick – from dogs and humans. Don’t try to remove the tick with your fingers or tweezers as that can result in it regurgitating its stomach contents, which can be infectious, into your system. Ugh.
Most often found in woodland and moorland, ticks are apparently becoming more common in gardens too. The really creepy thing is that they will fix themselves to you without you feeling it as it has anaesthesia in its saliva to numb your skin so you don’t know it is starting to bite. Double ugh. The main issue is that ticks carry infections, and while Lyme disease is more common in the UK, there has also recently been confirmation of cases of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in England, a viral infection that spreads through tick bites.
It is really worth reading up on www. lymediseaseaction.org.uk/about-ticks/tickremoval/ – and getting yourself a “tick tool” from your local vet.