Consider the habits of ticks when planning the landscaping of your garden. Ticks thrive in humid, wooded areas. They tend to avoid sunny, dry areas. There are several steps you can take to make your garden less attractive to ticks:
Keep your garden area free of leaf litter.
Ensure grass is cut regularly.
Separate lawns and wooded/bush areas with wood chips or gravel to deter tick migration.
Stack wood in dry areas.
Keep recreational garden equipment away from garden edges and trees.
Bird feeder tables and arrangements will only increase the possibility of ticks being found in your garden area.
If you live in an area where deer are known to be a common sighting there are different forms of plants and landscaping techniques that can be employed to discourage deer from entering your grounds. For an American example, as I’m not aware of any UK examples, see
http://landscaping.about.com/cs/pests/a/deer_resistant.htm
And whilst I appreciate not all may live near to deer, a great number of residential gardens will be visited upon by all manner of small rodents. As such bait boxes should be considered, and as demonstrated in the following abstract of a 3yr community-based study, have a dramatic effect on the natural disease transmission cycle. Once again American, as I’m not aware of any UK examples, but no less relevant to us here in the UK and Europe were Ixodus ricinus is responsible for the transmission of numerous tick-borne diseases.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/…000006/art00006
Control of Immature Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) on Rodent Reservoirs of Borrelia burgdorferi in a Residential Community of Southeastern Connecticut
Authors: Marc C. Dolan; Gary O. Maupin; Bradley S. Schneider; Christopher Denatale; Nick Hamon; Chuck Cole; Nordin S. Zeidner; Kirby C. Stafford
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology, Volume 41, Number 6, November 2004, pp. 1043-1054(12)
Publisher: Entomological Society of America
Abstract:
A 3-yr community-based study was conducted on residential properties on Mason’s Island, Mystic, CT, to determine the efficacy of a rodent-targeted acaricide (fipronil) to control immature Ixodes scapularis (Say) on Peromyscus leucopus. Results indicated that modified commercial bait boxes were effective as an acaricide delivery method for reducing nymphal and larval tick infestations on white-footed mice by 68 and 84%, respectively. Passive application of fipronil significantly reduced the infection rate of Borrelia burgdorferi among white-footed mice by 53%. Moreover, the abundance of questing I. scapularis adults on treated properties was reduced by 77% and fewer were infected with spirochetes (31%) compared with untreated sites (47%) after 3 yr of treatment. Likewise, the abundance of host-seeking nymphs was significantly reduced on treated properties by >50%. Finally, infection rates in flagged nymphal ticks for both B. burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum were reduced by 67 and 64%, respectively, after only 2 yr of treatment. Results from this 3-yr trial indicate that the use of fipronil passively applied to reservoir animals by bait boxes is an environmentally acceptable means to control ticks, interrupt the natural disease transmission cycle, and reduce the risk of Lyme disease for residents of treated properties.
http://tinyurl.com/29d984
Are such bait boxes available here in the UK I wonder? I have also read of concerns in relation to fipronil entering into the water table/food chain. Should we just be trying to kill the ticks on small rodents or would it not be better to kill the vermin? In town centres I would assume the later to be preferable. But in the countryside environment were such small rodents play an important part in the food chain of many wildlife animals, perhaps not.