Sspaterson wrote:Jon and Jen wrote:Have been assaulted by clegs, (pretty bad) ticks, (quite bad) keds (utterly indescribable things) and a few midges. (Not too bad actually) in the cairngorms over the last few weeks.
Keds???? Not heard of those before. Can you enlighten me?
Immortal flying crawling evil things that silently find their way onto your body, crawl into your hair, shed their wings and lurk, until they find their moment and start drilling into your skull and suck your brains out. OK, the last bit might be an exaggeration!
From Wiki
"Although their life cycle depends on deer, they may on rare occasions bite humans, producing responses ranging from unnoticeable to highly allergic. Initially, the bite may be barely noticeable and leaves little or no trace. Within 3 days, the site may develop into a hard, reddened welt. The accompanying itch is intense and typically lasts 14 to 20 days. Occasionally, an itch papule may persist for up to a year.[3] The main annoyance in humans is the inconvenience and unpleasantness of removing keds from hair and clothes."
and
"A newborn prepupa immediately darkens, forms the puparium, and begins to pupate on the forest floor, or where the deer are bedded. After pupation, the winged adult emerges and flies in search of a host. Upon finding a host, the adult fly breaks off its wings and it is
permanently associated with its host."
- Ked, from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipoptena_cerviThere is, something really creepy about these things, you can't swat them as they seem to be unkillable, and they are very persistent. Though it seems their bite is rare, for some reason they really make by skin crawl. I only discovered them a couple of years ago. They seem to like coniferous woodland, and lurking, unseen, behind my ears until I find them by accident and go into a meltdown panic.