Chigger

Thank you all for your kind messages yesterday for my 100th blip.

Since joining, I've found only wonderful people, with talent and enthusiasm. Each of us has a unique story to tell through our blips. Here our worlds collide, to produce an explosion of ideas, colours and records of our lives for the future.
I didn't realise how meaningful that first snap shot of a full moon would be.

Back to chiggers, otherwise known as harvest mites.
This little insect is smaller than a matchstick head but, finding it in the garden, fills me with dread! This is an adult and harmless . The young, invisible to the naked eye, are vicious.
They normally bite in constricted areas, between the folds of your skin or under the tightest parts of your clothing ie. belts and the elastic of your socks.
Their nasty habit is to inject an enzyme into your skin, digest skin cells and drop off.
24hours later the intense itch starts and it is severe. Nothing relieves the incessant irritation.

They are common on the downs. Each year I will be bitten once or twice. Last year I must have sat on a nest of them. I had tens of bites all over my body. I think that, 'living in a nightmare', is the best way to describe how I spent the following week.

Here's hoping this isn't one of the many that bit me, preparing to breed in my garden !