Horse flies

[Bladerunner]

or at least I think it was...anyway anyone who went on the 'tick' thread will remember my aversion and severe reaction to insect bites.

Sunday afternoon I was strimming in the garden with full body protection on including my old Montane windproof with the hood up and firmly fastened!! Stupidly I forgot gloves and I was halfway through strimming when I felt something on my hand, I knocked off a massive insecty thing (it was that big I thought it had feathers ) but not before it had drawn blood...and right on a vein.

Anyway to cut a long story short I am now back home after 24 hrs in hospital being given intravenous antibiotics for my hand and arm that swelled so much I looked like the elephant man. They are still very swollen but fortunately the lack of beds meant I was first to be kicked out so I don't have to endure another sleepless night amongst the seriously ill.

The specialist said it was either an infected bite or quite likely an 'exotic' breed of spider that there have been reports of roundabouts where I live!!

[Alf Tupper]

wow thats an extreme reaction , i am often bitten by creepy crawlies and horseflies are nasty bites.

[detritus21]

I find horsefly bites the worst. I've seen some horrible reactions to them when my friends have been bitten. Although I tend to react nastily to red ant stings

[wycoller]

I was bitten by something at Ambleside Sports when running through high bracken.

The day after at work my hand got larger and larger - ended up at GP that evening and on antibiotics. Fortunately got better quite quickly.

Said that it needed antibiotics because of the mouth parts that were left behind. Think it was a horsefly.

[Alf Tupper]

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/jeremy/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/jeremy/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.jpg[/IMG]Only the female horseflies suck blood , the males feed on nectar. just a thought! [IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/jeremy/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-4.jpg[/IMG]

[haworth hobbler]

or at least I think it was...anyway anyone who went on the 'tick' thread will remember my aversion and severe reaction to insect bites.

Sunday afternoon I was strimming in the garden with full body protection on including my old Montane windproof with the hood up and firmly fastened!! Stupidly I forgot gloves and I was halfway through strimming when I felt something on my hand, I knocked off a massive insecty thing (it was that big I thought it had feathers ) but not before it had drawn blood...and right on a vein.

Anyway to cut a long story short I am now back home after 24 hrs in hospital being given intravenous antibiotics for my hand and arm that swelled so much I looked like the elephant man. They are still very swollen but fortunately the lack of beds meant I was first to be kicked out so I don't have to endure another sleepless night amongst the seriously ill.

The specialist said it was either an infected bite or quite likely an 'exotic' breed of spider that there have been reports of roundabouts where I live!!

Klegs we calls them, nasty little b@stards!

[Max]

Klegs we calls them, nasty little b@stards!

The best way to deal with them is to wait until they have just punctured your skin then gently hit them with the flat of your hand & roll your hand over the body. They will fall off your skin without damaging you & you can then kill them at your leisure. Failure to do this properly will ensure that they come back & try to feed on you again.


Regards,

Max.

[Deeko]

The best way to deal with them is to wait until they have just punctured your skin then gently hit them with the flat of your hand & roll your hand over the body. They will fall off your skin without damaging you & you can then kill them at your leisure. Failure to do this properly will ensure that they come back & try to feed on you again.


Regards,

Max.

What? You actually let the feckers bite you? I usually just swat them with my palm as hard as I can. They are sloooowwww after all....

Mind you - one bit me through my tshirt on my back once - I guess if they can chew through a horses 4r$e then some corron isn't a problem.

Anyway - I usually just end up with wasp/bee stings. Got one three weeks ago on my calf and I had a terrible reaction to it. Huge red angry weal came up - took about a week to go away!

[Stolly]

I'm something of an expert in being bitten by horse flies (well you have to be good at something...). We used to go to a beach resort in the south west corner of Samos (a Greek Island) and, for some reason, one year there seemed to be frigging loads of the bastards, all of whom seemed to want a piece of me. The big ones here must be an inch and a half long and take big chomps out of you.

One morning whilst there I set off early to run up a mountain (mount kerkes 1500 metres) and on the track through the olive groves near the bottom I had loads of the buggers, all probably woken up by me, almost swarming to get at me. I got a couple of huge gaping bites but found that by taking my tee shirt off and waving it around my head like a mad dervish I was able to keep them at bay until I got above the horse fly zone.

My tip: Wave your tee shirt around your head.

[Max]

What? You actually let the feckers bite you?

Yes, that is the secret. Once they have settled on your skin then act just before they bite & they are unable to fly away as their proboscis is embedded in you.

Regards,

Max.