Tag Archives: lyme disease

May 1 2025

Lyme Disease Awareness month

Many of you will remember Episode 115 when I spoke with Morven-May about Lyme Disease and the impact it had on her life, along with ways to avoid tick bites.

May is Lyme disease Awareness month and to promote awareness of this is Morven-May  has passed some more information onto me which I wanted to share will you all.

Firstly here are links to her books that are available on amazon. I know she would be delighted to hear people’s thoughts on them.

Lime Disease UK website  https://lymediseaseuk.com/ provides some great resources on the disease, avoidance etc.

Morven-May has also collected some data on tick infection rates. You might recall in the podcast we talked about stats on infection rates, along with the sheer number of ticks that can be found in the countryside. Here are some more interesting data.

 “On average, approximately 4% of ticks are infected in England and Wales, although this range can fluctuate in different areas and across years, and can be on average as high as 8-10% in some areas. Since data collection began in 2005, there has been a gradual increasing trend in cases of Lyme disease, although yearly fluctuations have been observed, particularly since 2018. You can access regular reports on the UKHSA website.”

Personally (Morven-May), I think this is a conservative estimation as we know there are areas which are hot spots for Lyme.

I think this makes a lot of sense as I know from my experience of being out in woodlands round the country, insect and wildlife populations vary greatly. Locally we have a high population of larger mammals (deer, badgers, foxes) all of which are potential carriers. Other areas where there is less human impact or footfall is likely to be even more populated, and it is often these areas where championships are often held.

Here are some other useful sources of information that Morven-May has supplied

UK Health Security Agency – https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2024/03/21/what-is-lyme-disease-and-why-do-we-need-to-be-tick-aware/

Tick repellent options https://www.pyramidtravelshop.co.uk/tick-protection-48-c.asp

Removing ticks correctly is very important and here is a lint to tick removers: https://www.otom.com/en/

Once again I would like to express my thanks to Morven-May for her time and expertise.

Stay safe and enjoy your archery.

First Aid Kit
May 12 2018

Carry a simple first aid kit

It is the time of year when the days have been getting longer and we are out more often. Some will be out on two day shoots, camping in some beautiful British countryside, or maybe course laying in readiness for the shoot.  The downside of the warmer days is it results in me having to start taking antihistamine tablets due to slight hay fever and possibility of insect bites.
I’m pretty lucky, as I’ve been bitten or stung by most things including a swarm of angry bees one time when we disturbed a nest putting in a new target. The only bug that tends to result in a very bad reaction are horse fly bites and those I really react badly too. You can see below how my hand swelled up after a few hours, following one. Luckily I got my wedding ring off before the fingers swelled up too much or I might have had to have it cut off. (The ring not the finger)

horsefly bite

horsefly bite = very swollen hand

It is also when I go through the first aid kit on my quiver belt to check things are still in date. I do it every year and whether camping, skiing, hiking or enjoying field archery I always carry a simple first aid kit, either in my backpack, day sack or on my quiver belt. It doesn’t take up much space and weighs nearly nothing.
Top tip – put everything contained within the kit into waterproof zip bags. It keeps the kit together and more importantly dry.
The kit is pretty basic, the sort you can pick up from most outdoor stores with a few extra items, I’ve added  like antiseptic wipes, spare micropore tape, antihistamine cream, dehydration sachets etc. I’ve also added in a tick removing tool, as the numbers of ticks seem to be on the increase and we as field archers tend to frequent areas infested with the little things.
When asked why I bother carrying one as the organisers are bound to have something I tend to reply saying “It’s one of those things you hope to never have to use but am glad to carry”.
Thanks for reading.