Gentle pottering, late summer sun, the buzz of bees. Somehow, you just don't expect gardening to get up and bite you, do you? But that's exactly what something did to me on Monday evening.
I wouldn't mention it, except it's made me rethink my behaviour in the garden and it might prevent the same thing happening to you. (It also preoccupied me for most of last week and, honestly, what's a blog for if not to share?)
I was kneeling in the shaggy grass near the compost bins when something nibbled - probed, penetrated? - the inside of my calf. I saw nothing at first, then wondered if the tiny black thing that wandered across my skin (the size of a rice grain) had something to do with it, and thought nothing more of it.
Hah! What the hell was that vicious little beast?
Next morning, at the site of the original pain my calf was red and there was tiny fluid-filled blister. By lunchtime the whole inside of my calf was red, swollen and burning hot. The tissue near the bite was hard and congested and it hurt to walk. The bite itself oozed. The skin felt tight enough to burst.
By evening, when Husband finally saw it, I was hobbling. "I did tell you," I pointed out, with some asperity, as he said that if only he'd known he'd have picked up the insect venom suction thing-y that (for some unfathomable reason) he'd once bought and now resides at his father's house. Quite obviously our main regret at this point was that this never-used piece of emergency kit was missing its moment of glory.
He applied some excruciating massage to the area (he's qualified as an osteopath), cleared some of the congestion and suggested I'd live, while I was wondering if you could die of itching.
Of course, you may wonder why I hadn't skedaddled to a doctor or chemist. Well, given that grim images of gangrene leap easily to mind (or at least, my mind) whenever I pick up a splinter, I had already consulted the inhouse doctor (or Internet) and can highly recommend the NHS Choices rundown on "bad insect bite".
I was in the midst of a Large Localised Reaction (LLR).
But otherwise I felt fine - no temperature, no sickness, no aching joints. The swelling and redness spread discernibly but in a contained manner, there were no enlarged lymph nodes, and no red lines ascending the thigh (which would have indicated spreading infection). So I remained (moderately) sanguine.
By Thursday (Thursday, note) I could walk without pain, it was barely hot, all scabbed over but - what the...? - my lower leg and ankle had swollen up.
Only on Friday, after frantic massage (this time from me - my ankles are, for heaven's sake, one of my better features), can I say that the leg finally looked normal, if still feeling extremely itchy. And I am humbled and relieved at the amazing ability our body has to contain and vanquish poison and infection.
Does anybody have any idea what it might have been?
Of course, I might have suffered an idiosyncratic allergic reaction, but could it have been the Blandford Fly? This vicious little brute is well-known in Dorset, where the yearly controls that seem to have kept it in abeyance are under threat. And, although it mostly frequents watery areas, and is supposedly most active in May and June and in the middle of the day, it seems to be spreading, with possible thanks to garden water features. This July the Gloucestershire Echo queried if there were now Blandford flies in Cheltenham when a doctor and his wife experienced painful bites.
Blandford Fly or no, I'll aim to be a little more circumspect. Aiming to convert the late summer sun to as much Vitamin D as possible, I was in shorts, but I think jeans might be more to the point, at least in long grass. And an anti-histamine in the medicine cupboard seems a reasonable addition. All precautions that the Oxonian Gardener found useful for the same reason.
If you think you've had a similar bite, let us know and let's see if we can map anything out around the counties.
...Landscape Juice Network
I have been bitten by something similar which I think is also the Blanford fly. I was walking yesterday in Ruislip, NW London by a river on the Hillindon Trail when I noticed my legs becoming very itchy (I was wearing tights). I also noticed a bite on my wrist and middle finger which were infuriatingly itchy. When I looked at my legs later on they were covered in around 13 bites which are now very itchy and swollen. I have never had such a reaction to an insect bite before and there were no mosquitos around that I could see. There were many tiny flies hovering around though which I now think may have been these Blanford flies. My finger is very swollen today and I cannot wear my rings, my wrist is in a similar condition and the bites on my legs range from great welts to more normal sized bites. Many are very hot and swollen. Its pretty horrible and I only hope they don't get too much worse. I had never heard of these little monsters before but I certainly think they are no longer localised to Dorset!
Posted by: jess | Monday, 22 September 2014 at 12:47 AM
That's tough, Jess. This year certainly seems to have been good for biting insects. I wonder if it is the pesky Blandford fly? Hope your bites get better soon.
Posted by: Helen | Tuesday, 23 September 2014 at 10:09 AM
I think it's a Blandford fly! My boyfriend was bitten by one of these little monsters and the bite was looking exactly the same!
Posted by: Mary Preston | Friday, 24 October 2014 at 03:04 PM
Yes I was bitten in June 2013 while canoeing around the mouth of the Stour in Dorset and later a red line started growing from the bite in my ankle. My doctor dismissed it and said it was due to tight socks. I soothed it by bathing it in mouth wash then putting on a grease as a barrier cream.
Then just last week December 2014 it reoccured in the same place. I live in Southampton.
Posted by: Jane Clarke | Saturday, 20 December 2014 at 10:56 PM
Sorry to hear that, Jane. Hope it calms down quickly.
Posted by: Helen | Monday, 22 December 2014 at 09:59 AM
I have just been bitten by a blanford fly and my reaction is now so huge that I was researching online and come across your blog, which was very interesting and sounds similar to my situation right now! I was out walking with the dogs yesterday afternoon when I was bitten by a blanford fly on the back of my thigh. It has now got so big it's covered the entire back of one of my thighs and seems to be spreading to the front! Unless that was a separate bite I hadn't noticed! It's completely solid and red and very hot and itchy! I'm on holiday in a few days so hopefully it'll go down by then! I must point out I live in dorset and near a stream, in fact not too far from blandford so I know who the culprit was!
Posted by: Daisy | Wednesday, 15 July 2015 at 11:12 PM
Ouch, Daisy! That sounds really painful. Hope it clears up in time for your holiday. Thank you for commenting.
Posted by: Helen | Thursday, 16 July 2015 at 06:58 AM
I was bitten on Thursday. The bite has spread to most of my lower leg and is so painful. Having consulted the pharmacist, I am now taking antihistamines, using steroid cream and painkillers. I presume that it is a Blandford Fly from previous comments. Is there anything else that we sufferers can do?
Posted by: Karen | Sunday, 15 May 2016 at 12:12 AM
Had two Blandford fly bites here near Ross on Wye a couple of weeks ago Both caused swelling and a lot of pain and haven't completely gone. In the garden fixing the pond pump (wearing a skirt - how stupid of me) and now have the worse one yet right behind my knee - these bites are hellish. I was using Incognito spray to deter, but have forgotten to use it lately. Will remember in future - anybody know anything good to put them off?
Posted by: Jean Sturtivant | Friday, 27 May 2016 at 03:52 PM
They're obviously out getting their protein, Karen and Jean. Sorry to hear you're both suffering. I suspect covering up is the most effective barrier to being bitten, but we all forget from time to time.
Posted by: Helen | Friday, 27 May 2016 at 03:56 PM