Mention the word arachnid and most people will think of spiders and scorpions.

Our friend here is also belongs to the arachnid family, it is a Tick.

This one was removed from Smidge the dog after it had attached itself to her ear.

Ticks feed on blood which they obtain by piercing the skin of its host with its strong mouth parts.

While in this case it had attached itself to Smidge the also find humans quite tasty.

Ticks can transmit a bacterial infection known as Lyme's Disease and while not very common here in the UK it is on the increase. If you have been bitten and the site of the bite becomes reddened and inflamed I would suggest that you obtain advice from your doctor just to be on the safe side.

On a larger scale meet Bully. He is a young adolescent bull that Phil is rearing.

While he may be a bit of a softy, he is a big and quite powerful animal even at his young age, and you have treat him with some respect to avoid accidental injury.

As you can tell from the picture life's hard when your a male:-)

Talking of being male, strutting his way across the field attempting to impress the ladies was this cock pheasant.

I have to say that this photograph does not do justice to his plumage which in the sunlight gave him an impressive golden iridescence.

Another male with iridescent plumage is this mallard.

It was giving me a hard look after I had just scared off his girfriend.

 

 

Having a little more luck was this swallow.

Sat on a power line between the farm buildings it was obviouly in the process of feathering its nest for comfort.

 

The final picture this month is of this Silver "Y" moth.

as you can see from the photograph the moth takes its name from the inverted "silver Y" marking on its forewing.

It is a migrant arriving here in spring and early summer. unlike many moths it is active by both day and night.

See you next time, Andy

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