Gamekeepers are reminding the public to be vigilant when it comes to ticks as a bite can spread the serious Lyme disease illness.
Estate managers who form Scotland’s Regional Moorland Groups have launched the campaign '#tickcareinthecountryside' to coincide with May being Lyme Disease Awareness Month.
It comes at a time when NHS 24 call handlers are dealing with a rise in tick-related calls as the warmer weather sets in across the country.
The most common blood-sucking tick in the UK is the sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus). This species of infected tick can transmit Lyme disease (borrelia) to people, dogs and horses.
Ticks are prevalent in areas of dense vegetation including woodland, heathland, and bracken and it is the latter habitat where most people pick up ticks during days out to the countryside.
Sheep tick can also spread the louping-ill virus and cause up to 80% mortality in red grouse chicks. High burdens of ticks are also likely to reduce the health of moorland wader chicks.
Campaigners say the sheer number of ticks on a bird or small mammal can also be enough to weaken or kill it, even if they are not carrying a disease.
Sheep farming is closely integrated with grouse management and flocks of sheep are also an important element of tick management, estate managers explain.
Ticks can be killed by treating sheep with an acaricide dip, reducing the danger to the sheep themselves and limiting the chance of ticks attaching themselves to other animals, birds and humans.
Bruce Cooper, estate manager at Glen Prosen Estate in the Angus Glens, which is backing the campaign, said: “Some years ago one of our Angus Glens head keepers contracted Lyme disease.
"Living alone at the time he missed the telltale signs of being bitten by an infection tick. Weeks of feeling tired, progressed to sore heads, which worsened to double vision and eventually falling unconscious.
"Luckily his wife raised the alarm and he received a diagnosis and treatment for Lyme disease. 25 years later he is still alive and well.
"Thankfully since then there is far more awareness about the disease, how to prevent a tick bite and what symptoms to look out for."
Moorland management practices being carried out across Scotland are helping to control the number of ticks in the countryside and limit the spread of Lyme disease in people.
Tick control measures include, muirburn, aerial-spraying of bracken together with the management of deer and hare numbers on Scottish grouse moors.
As part of the campaign, experts from the NHS have posted advice on social media for anyone concerned over a tick bite
