On Sunday, it was Father’s day so we took my Father-in-Law to Harvington Hall, a moated manor house with the largest surviving series of priest holes in the country. The weather was kind to us, the day was gloriously hot and sunny and a good time was had by all. When we arrived we had lunch before going a guided tour of the house. The tour isn’t compulsory but I would recommend it. Mr C and I had visited earlier in the year when, we also took a guided tour. Both tours were good but on this occasion we were taken round by a delightful young man who brought out points that were of particular interest to us.

As our guide, Phil Downing was  showing us around he explained that he had spent twenty four hours in one of the priest holes and told us of some of his experiences. It was also fun to see the small children excited about exploring one of the priest holes in the property; one of them didn’t want to leave. You can watch an excellent short video of Phil giving a tour of the house on the video that follows.

View on YouTube

After we had returned home, later in the day we prepared a father’s day meal which we ate on the patio in the warm evening air. When we had finished the meal, as we sat and chatted for a while over a glass of wine I felt a pin prick near to my ankle. I thought no more of it until a little while later I felt a rather more piercing prick on the other ankle and when I looked there was a tell tale tiny black fly and I noticed a few others flying around at leg height.

The next day I noticed that I had five or six bite marks around my ankles and one higher up on the back of my leg. Later in the day my ankles got rather hot and red and my feet swelled up a little causing one of my shoes to rub my foot near to my ankle. When I got home from work I noticed shoe rubbing had caused a small blister. I put my feet up and the redness turned to a pinky tinge leading me into a false sense of security.

When I woke up the next morning my feet and ankles had swelled up and were bright red and there were darker red, itchy patches around the area of the bites. Even more alarmingly the blister had grown to the size of a large marble. The patches were reminiscent of the previous occasion when small black flies found me tasty.  On that occasion I identified the culprit as ‘black fly’ more commonly known in the UK as the ‘Blandford Fly’, this lead me to suspect that the unpleasant little blighters are breeding in next doors pond.

I had been trying not to have any extra time of work this week (other than two days already booked), already cancelling one appointment and getting Mr C to help me out with another but it seems that was not to be. I phoned and made an appointment in the minor injuries clinic at my local GP surgery. It was noted that my temperature was a slightly high and so was my pulse rate and I was prescribed with antihistamine and antibiotics. A little later in the day I felt slightly shivery so I must have had a slight fever along with everything else.

When I arrived at work everyone was quite shocked with what they saw and when Mr C came home from work he brought me some roses to cheer me up.

On the day of the wedding the weather was so perfect that some uninvited guests emerged from the pool area. The tiny intruders invaded layers of the brides dress and had to be removed for the photographs. Later in the day when the wedding guests had gathered on the terrace before the evening reception the tiny intruders enjoyed a pre evening meal feast…

I noticed one when I felt a felt a tickling sensation on my leg, then I had a stinging sensation on my other leg and noticed a bit of blood… I thought nothing more of it until 24 hours later when my leg was itching and I gave it a casual scratch. I experienced excruciating pain causing me to look to see what the problem was. I was quite shocked at what I saw on my leg. There were a few other lesser bites adorning my lower body too.

This led me to do a Google search to find out what the insects actually are. I found that they are Black Fly and in the UK they have been named the Blandford Fly. Check the link for a photo on the damage they can do.

Black Fly

My leg didn’t swell up, but it had a vicious red rash which was hot to the touch and as I walked I had searing pain if I wasn’t careful. Thankfully the pain, heat and extended rash have calmed down.