Sunday 6 May 2012

Surprises Today, The Lovely and The Nasty

White Throat by Linda Yarrow
White Throat, a photo by Linda Yarrow on Flickr.
I had two surprises today, the lovely and the nasty.  The lovely surprise was while I was sitting in my garden, enjoying the rare sunshine and sipping my tea, a White Throat appeared in my garden for the first time.  This picture I took last year at Durlston Country Park.  Now for the nasty surprise, while I was having a shower this morning, I found a tick on the back of my leg ¦:-{ horrible! I couldn't believe it!  And where the hell it came from I do not know.  I picked it off intact, it was alive and crawling on my hand, well I soon got rid of it :- [


 

6 comments:

Roy said...

My goodness Lyn, that is not nice.
Beastly things - I hope you made sure there was nothing left in your skin. They frequent fields and woodlands and will attach to anything passing by.

Apparently they have to be attached for 24 to 36 hours before they become dangerous to your health and that doesn't mean all of the species though.

http://www.ramblers.org.uk/info/practical/safety#Ticks

Richard Pegler said...

You have my full sympathy Linda. They can be a real worry if you're unlucky enough to get one. I had a large one attach itself to the inside of my elbow in Hungary a few years back - didn't give me any problems, but I was more than a little concerned for a while. As Roy says, most of them don't pose any problems.

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Great to get a Whitethroat in your garden Linda.

Good that you spotted the tick and removed it intact.

Linda Yarrow said...

Thankyou Roy, Richard and Mike.

Richard Pegler said...

Hi Linda. Just to update you - the Little Owl nest box camera that you pointed me at clearly showed the female feeding FOUR CHICKS when I looked fairly early on Thursday morning. Tried to put a comment on their web page, but I don't do facebook, etc.

JRandSue said...

Fantastic find,gets a tick from me.
john.