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BackEntry title:

Ticks records monthly average

Last updated on Thursday, 10 April 2025 at 03:29pm

Summary

Topic
ticks
Category
counts
API name
ticks_counts_averageByMonth

Rationale

Understanding the seasonal activity of Ixodes ricinus ticks informs UKHSA’s risk assessments of the public health impact of ticks and the associated risk of exposure to ticks in the UK.

Definition

This metric shows monthly average count data of Ixodes ricinus records submitted to the Tick Surveillance Scheme per month from the most recent year in comparison to the mean monthly average from the previous 10 years. New records are reported by the date the tick was found.

Methodology

The Tick Surveillance Scheme was established in 2005 and is a passive citizen science scheme that relies upon members of the public, health practitioners, veterinary practitioners, wildlife groups and others to submit ticks to the scheme.

Each tick submitted by post is accompanied by a recording form and includes the date of tick collection, location of tick exposure and the host from which the tick was removed.

The Tick Surveillance Scheme records from the past 10 years were included in this dataset instead of the entire dataset from 2005, as this timeframe provides a more robust evaluation of annual records. The data includes the period 2013 to 2023.

The monthly average from the previous 10 years is calculated by taking the mean of the records submitted to the Tick Surveillance Scheme by month and year.

Caveats

This Tick Surveillance Scheme is a passive dataset meaning that not all tick records are reported and recorded.

The data included in this metric also includes years during the COVID-19 pandemic. This may affect the average.

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