Oh that hurt

broomy · Jun 28, 2012

There I was Tuesday afternoon on the banks of the river Tees planning to stop till dark and hopefully repeat my sucess of the previous eveng and land a double figure barble.
I set up in the previous evenings swim and then armed with matchet and small trenching spade set off to clear out a few more swims.
The river in this area has very steep banks heavily treed and covered in weed incliding giant hogweed.
So I had on my long rubber gloves and gogles to protect me from the hog weed.
Swim chosen and weed cut down I removed the protective gear and started digging a few foot hold's and spot for my chair.
All of a sudden I have a buzzing insect inside my cap.
Outch its stung my head, ouch I have been stung on the ear, outch I have been stung below my left eye.
Oh no theres lots of them and now I am getting repeat hits to my head and face.
All of this taking place in a matter of moments.
I stumbled fell picked myself up and ran out into the ajacent field.
Luckily the attack stopped and I made my way back to my gear.
I spent the next I dont know how long in a world of pain.
When I looked in the mirror later that evening I realised the attckers may have been bees because the stings were still stuck in my face, wasps dont leave a sting.
All I can think of is I dug into a nest, strange because we had a 5 meter plus flood through the previous weekend and that was way above were I was working?
Still feeling the affect two days later and woundering when I will get the confidence to venture back out, never experienced anything like this in over 50 years of time in the outdoors

peter crabtree · Jun 28, 2012

Wrong place wrong time....

Don't let it put you off .....

S-Kippy · Jun 28, 2012

You have my sympathy. Bee stings dont affect me much bar hurting but I suffer a very severe reaction to wasp stings. I got jabbed in the neck one time & ended up in A&E suffering from anaphylactic shock. Very unpleasant I can tell you and had that happened miles from anywhere on me own I could have been in very serious bother.

Tedious things wasps. They dont bother me but I just dont dare start a fight with one.

maceo · Jun 28, 2012

Broomy - Sympathy about the attack. If it was bees then you'd have to really upset them for them to attack you like that. There must have been a hive around somewhere.

Could I clarify something by the way?

You say that you spent the next hours in a 'world of pain' but then you didn't look in a mirror until the evening.

Can I infer from this that you carried on fishing despite the attack? With a load of stings hanging out of you and everything?

If so, fair play fella.

That's dedication that is!

dezza · Jun 29, 2012

It would be about 1975 when I went bass fishing to an isolated lake about 60 miles from my home. Around the lake were a few dead wattle trees. I spotted what looked like a ringhals (black necked spitting cobra), which slithered away and swam across the water. This was obviously a spot where humanity rarely trespassed.

Suddenly I was surrounded by a swarm of African bees. I received about 30 stings I guess, the peculiarity being that I hardly felt them.

I jumped back into the car and closed the windows. It took perhaps 15 minutes for the bees to disperse. I spent the next few minutes pulling out the stings. Again I hardly felt them, just a slight itching.

I since consulted my doctor who informed me that some people are totally immune to bee venom.

I can't say the same about wasps however, they hurt like hell.

barbelboi · Jun 29, 2012

Unless a person has a bee sting allergy, the average person can safely tolerate 10 stings per pound of body weight. The average adult can withstand more than 1000 stings, although 500 stings could kill a child. A bee stinger contains different toxins to a wasp stinger therefore a person who has an allergy to wasp stings may not suffer from a bee sting allergy.

Honey bees can sting predators such as other insects repeatedly. However, worker honey bees have barbed stings, causing the stinger to get lodged in the skin of mammals. This is fatal to the bee when they try to pull away from the victim, and the bee will die after the incident.

Bumblebees and solitary bees are usually very docile, and stinging is rare.
Jerry

superted77 · Jun 29, 2012

Got stung twice by wasps last summer, within 2 weeks. The 1st time was driving in the car with the window open, felt something land on my neck, then slapped it and had a wasp sting my neck.

Two weeks later was struggling down an 12ft embankment on a Durham stretch of the Wear with my rod net and shoulder bag noticed a small mouse hole, thought nothing of it, seconds later loads of wasps swarmed out stung me on the earlobe, i rolled down the bank and in to the drink with water up to my knacky noos

mg: wellys full of water had
to wade thru the river away from the wasps then clamber up the bank further along, thru 4ft of nettles and brambles, then try to retrieve my gear without getting stung again.Would of had people in stitches if anybody had seen:wh
Fortunatley my rod wasn't broken but 2 days later with my ear like a
yorkshire pud had to visit the Docs for antibi's was told if i get stung again
will probably go in to shock, so must to go to A&E.

peter crabtree · Jun 29, 2012

A few years ago I visited Finland and my mate and I went fishing.
All was going well until a wasp got stuck in my collar and stung the back of my neck. At first it hurt and throbbed and although uncomfortable I kept on fishing until I suddenly felt all my strength drain from my body.
I tried to shout to my mate but no sound would come from my mouth.
I staggered to the car park and leant against the car, luckily my friends wife turned up with some refreshments and noticed my plight.
She got me in the car and we drove 10 miles to a clinic.
That was the journey from hell for me. My palms and the bottom of my feet were itching not to mention my plums and ringpiece which were on fire.
I undressed in the surgery and my whole body was like a beetroot.
Out came a big syringe full of cortisone which the nurse stabbed into my botty.
I don't speak Finnish but noticed the word "urticaria" being mentioned.
Woke up on a bed half an hour later fit as a fiddle..

dezza · Jun 29, 2012

I've suffered perhaps more bites and stings from insects and arachnids than most people. One of the worst was a large European hornet which stung me in the finger when I was about 11 years old. It was my fault of course, I was scrumping apples.

Hornets, especially those massive Japanese hornets can kill.

What surprises me are the "authorities" that state that certain insects and spiders are harmless. Bollacks!!

Even a few British spiders can give you a very nasty bite. False widows and the big house spiders are the ones to watch for.

My next door neighbour's wife was bitten by a black button spider (black widow) years ago; she spent a week in hospital.

The nastiest sting of the lot comes from the Tsetse Fly. They look very similar to the common UK horse fly, but the bite is like a blunt injection.

maceo · Jun 29, 2012

Superted - that's some story and nicely described!

Having 'fallen in' myself on the 1st day of the season the other week before I even got the rod out of the bag, I know the disappointment of a session that never even gets started.

I bet you'll be watching very closely for "mouse" holes on the bank in future eh?

superted77 · Jun 29, 2012

You bet i will, i was gutted, conditions were perfect fining nicely
after days of rain. And i had to go home feeling like a right plonker.

mark brailsford 2 · Jun 29, 2012

If in the British isles you can't beat Scotland for a few wee bites

I have found that in the west highlands you cannot avoid being near water, however hard you try, over the years I have had some, lets say, real fun with that lovely insect, the Scottish midge! The one to look out for though is the horse fly, the nasty buggers land on you without so much of a by or leave and just sink there fangs right in, and they really do draw blood

In England, the most painfull bites I have received have been from aquatic animals, the water boatman, the great diving beetle and the lovely pond skater (when I was a young lad I could not keep myself out of those inviting bits of water!) but I once had an argument with a devils coach horse, not nice!
By the way, you are very unlikely to be attacked by wasps at this time of year as the Queen will have not reared enough offspring so early in the season to become a threat (the queens are the only ones that survive the winter) and it's only when they become near the end of there days that they become a nuisance.

noknot · Jun 29, 2012

Ron The Hat Clay said:
It would be about 1975 when I went bass fishing to an isolated lake about 60 miles from my home. Around the lake were a few dead wattle trees. I spotted what looked like a ringhals (black necked spitting cobra), which slithered away and swam across the water. This was obviously a spot where humanity rarely trespassed.

Suddenly I was surrounded by a swarm of African bees. I received about 30 stings I guess, the peculiarity being that I hardly felt them.

I jumped back into the car and closed the windows. It took perhaps 15 minutes for the bees to disperse. I spent the next few minutes pulling out the stings. Again I hardly felt them, just a slight itching.

I since consulted my doctor who informed me that some people are totally immune to bee venom.

I can't say the same about wasps however, they hurt like hell.

Hello Ron, long time no chat.......................Is your real name by any chance TOPPER I ask because anything that is said regardless of the topic you Ron can top it with your wide and God like experience.........Long Live the TOPPER!

beerweasel · Jun 29, 2012

I got stung by a Bee once...........

twenty quid for a jar of honey!

dezza · Jun 30, 2012

mark brailsford 2 said:
In England, the most painfull bites I have received have been from aquatic animals, the water boatman, the great diving beetle and the lovely pond skater (when I was a young lad I could not keep myself out of those inviting bits of water!) but I once had an argument with a devils coach horse, not nice!

Lots of memories are coming back......

The common African Backswimmer (Notonectidae), often wrongly called a water boatman (Corixidae) has a vicious bite that is capable of making you very poorly indeed, especially of you wade bare legged into a group of them.

I had a nasty experience once whilst wading a Natal trout stream. After that I always wore waders.

And then there was the time when me and my old mate Bill asked permission of a farmer to fish his dam. It was a lovely bit of water, about 4 acres - full of lilies, rushes and
bloody great big large mouth bass.

And something else, as you will find out!

It was January when we arrived at the dam, and boy it was hot. I made my way along the dam wall, armed with baitcasting gear and a few plastic worms. I cast to the top of a large lily pad an drew the worm stealthily over the edge of the pad so that it fell into the water. I was taken by a fair bass, which jumped high in the air.

2 lbs.

I was just about to recast my worm when I became aware of a frightful sensation. It felt as though my legs were amongst a bunch of nettles!

I looked down and saw them. Hundreds of little brown things each about 1/2 an inch long, each with evil pincers, and each full of formic acid.

There was only one thing to do and that was to jump into the water. Thank goodness it wasn't too deep, but by doing so I prevented further untold agony.

And what were they?

Driver ants!

mark brailsford 2 · Jun 30, 2012

Ron The Hat Clay said:
Driver ants!

Lovely

They reckon the Bulldog ants are the worse, a really excruciating pain

dezza · Jun 30, 2012

mark brailsford 2 said:
They reckon the Bulldog ants are the worse, a really excruciating pain

The Australian "Bulldog Ant", also known as the "Jack Jumper Ant" because of it's horrible habit of jumping for your "Jacks", is one of the most terrifying insects on the planet.

They can grow to over 1 1/2 inches long, and have pincers which look like long nosed pliers with the same amount of power. I have looked in many places in both the Australian mainland and Tasmania for these ants, but I never found one.

Stories abound regarding the ferocity and tenacity of the Jack Jumpers.

redfin123 · Jun 30, 2012

noknot said:
.Long Live the TOPPER!

who,s this guy called topper, seems to know a lot about every thing. Has he been on egg heads.

noknot · Jul 1, 2012

Mhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhM Maybe!

mark brailsford 2 · Jul 1, 2012

Ron is a good northern bloke, and like most northern blokes WE know pretty much anything about everything...Even things like fishing and biting insects

Oh that hurt

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