Ticks

I didn't pick up any ticks on Saturday, which was surprising with the bracken being up. I've picked up as many as five on one outing in the Lakes, although it doesn't seem as much as a problem round here. There are various recommended methods for getting rid of them, all aimed at avoiding the obvious direct pull, as this is said to leave the mouth parts in, which then go septic.

The direct pull can also tend to use the beast as a sort of hypodermic; as you squeeze, its body fluids are forced out through its mouth parts into your bloodstream, increasing the chance of developing Lyme disease. Although Lyme disease is only carried by deer ticks, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem on our fells.

Recommended methods of removal mainly rely on suffocating the little bleeders (I use this word advisedly, not as a term of abuse) by the application of Vaseline or hairspray, so that in dying slowly they release their grip and just drop off.

But just spare a thought for the ticks as they wait for a host. Do they have Velcro on their backs and hold on to the bracken loosely so that their transfer to a passing runner is a fairly passive thing? Keep your legs shaved ladies ~ do hairier people pick up more ticks?

Or do they crouch with tensed legs, spot you coming and then leap across the divide, like some arthropodic rugby three quarter, going for the tackle?

Or do they hang by one arm (leg?), like some tiny Tarzan on a vine, and grab your leg (or worse) hair as you pass (keep shaving ladies)?

And how long do they have to wait, and will they, at Borrowdale, say "Isn't it always the the same, you wait six weeks for a fell runner and then 500 come along all at once!"

EtU