Ticks & Midges

camodog

Well-Known Member
Good Afternoon 'All'. Now that largely the tick and midge 'season' is over I am just curious what others experienced. On my grounds, both here in NW England and the Borders I did not appear to have the numbers of either. Ticks were noticably fewer not only on the deer (roe) I shot, but on both dogs (and myself :eek:)
I stalked 3/4 days/week and I cannot recall the midges being particularly disruptive this 'season' either !
Would be interested in what stalkers found elsewhere.
Kind Regards,
'Camodog'.
 
Never seen ticks on my Fallow until this year. Not massive numbers but 10-20 on each beast now.
A local got confirmed Lyme from a tick last year, so far so good not had any on me (Fingers crossed).
 
Very good year for midges here, low numbers all year and no third hatch in September. I can honestly say there wasn’t enough to stop me doing anything outside at any time. Global warming :-|
 
Ticks were normal numbers through the summer but less early on, we had quite a dry spring. A lot better than was forecast after the mild winter though.
 
Midges were very bad in the West Coast during calm days.

Had clouds of them one day which made work difficult.
 
I didn't notice much change in midge numbers this year (Central Scotland, Perthshire and Angus region), but it occurs to me that the tick-burden appeared to be less than usual from what I recall...
 
Midges do seem slightly less here this year, but still a pest.
Tick numbers appear to be unchanged/possibly slightly more (just from dog walking). I took 7 off the dog after our walk one morning last week. However, that number is unusual.

v
 
Must live in a almost tick free area, i stalk in Northants, and cambs, and very rarely ever see ticks on muntjac or fallow, had a couple on a Roe buck this year , but been like that for a few years now
 
Here in Warwickshire / Worcestershire we rarely see any ticks. Does anyone know why certain areas get Ticks
and other don't ?
Chill
 
possibly the worst year we've had for midge some days when we lay in heather to shoot could one get one shot off each as the cloud of midge was so thick and drove us to distraction in the eyes nose mouth. nets aren't see through sadly have to take them off to see through scope. the deer still seemed to have an abundance of tick on them but thankfully none of us were too bad. (west central Scotland)
 
Here in Warwickshire / Worcestershire we rarely see any ticks. Does anyone know why certain areas get Ticks
and other don't ?
Chill

Usually areas where there were a lot of sheep. However when I keepered in the Cotswolds I never saw a tick and that used to be big sheep country.
I never saw any in Warwk's only on ferrets back in the 50's and 60's.
 
Western Borders - midges not bad but loads of ticks on deer and dog. I'm very fortunate that ticks don't seem to be attracted to me.
 
Interesting. I live adjacent to three flocks of Cheviots. I look over the garden fence and there they are. I walk two dogs twice a day through them and on the hill behind the house. I can not remember seeing any ticks on the dogs this year, or any on my wife or myself.
About four/five years ago my neighbour, the farmer, stopped dipping sheep and started applying the insecticide from a bottle between their shoulder blades. He didn’t recon the dip that he was then allowed to use was anywhere near as efficient (or toxic) as the older, banned organophosphate dip.
Whereas previously a significant number of his lambs were to be seen hobbling around after the ewes, affected by tic-borne joint arthritis, this seems to my observations to be very much decreased since he adopted this Spot-On type treatment, so it seems very effective.
My only concern is that obviously the treatment is absorbed into the bodies of the sheep for it to be effective. I wonder how much of it is excreted into the ground by urine and droppings, to carry on killing any invertebrates in the pasture, and possible knock-on effects on our insect life.
Only a theory, based on subjective observation, and I’m happy to be proven wrong.
 
'Spot on' Blaven (see what he did there!); organophosphate and synthetic pyrethroid poisons are residual. It stays in the meat and also gets put over the ground via their urine and dung. You'll not see too much insect activity about the droppings of them...
 
'Spot on' Blaven (see what he did there!); organophosphate and synthetic pyrethroid poisons are residual. It stays in the meat and also gets put over the ground via their urine and dung. You'll not see too much insect activity about the droppings of them...

Regular drenching in Opranophosphorous dips during my early years has caused me ongoing medical issues. But I have never had a tick on me so every cloud......
 
Following on..... I’m an infrequent contributor on this forum but there used to be/is a Vet who posted here. It may be illuminating to have his opinion on this theory. I’ve bounced this on to my neighbour (a Vet) and have had no reply. It could be that he’s forgotten or that he thinks I’m crazy, or both.
One has to remember also that Vets and farmers are in a symbiotic relationship,- an interdependence. And Vets sell the products to the farmers. I’m not saying that these products are supplied to farmers in the full knowledge that they may be environmentally bad, but that possibility should be borne in mind. Big Pharma is a powerful lobby...........
 
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