Last Thursday I innocently joined one of my marina neighbours for a sunset beer at a table on some grassland that is heavily frequented by Canada Geese, thinking that goose pooh on the sandals was the only major risk…3 sleepless and unbelievably itchy nights later I discovered I had been attacked by avian mites known in the USA as “chiggers”.  Initially I turned in early complaining of mosquito bites – but the level of irritation was much worse, and accompanied by crawling sensations on the skin – so I thought I had fleas…but no, these critters are invisible – at least to anyone over 40 – being less than 0.5mm long.  A bit of web research quickly came up with the answer, which seems well known across the pond – here is one link:

http://www.creaturecontrol.net…..an%20Geese

I treated myself with amateur gusto out of sheer desperation – I do not recommend this to anyone since I disobeyed everything written on the tins – but a spray down with a mite killing agent sold for chickens, and a head to toe wash with Lyclear – an anti-nit shampoo (both contain Permethrin which kills lice and mites) seems to have cured the problem.  I also boil-washed my bedding, discarded the duvet and sprayed the soft furnishing. 

I have no wish to spread alarm with this post – just a note of caution if you have these increasingly populous geese as your neighbours. When I was a kid you had to go to St. James Park to see any! If I knew then that I’d spend 3 nights seriously considering sawing me own legs off to get some sleep – sorry that’s tasteless. I would be interested to know if any fellow boaters have experienced similar however?

Andy