Recently a Scorpion was reported seen on our Nature Garden at our North
London Allotment.

What kind of a risk might this pose to children visiting this part of
the allotment? And what steps if any could be taken to removing such
insects? Thanks.

In article ,
john west wrote:
Recently a Scorpion was reported seen on our Nature Garden at our North
London Allotment.

What kind of a risk might this pose to children visiting this part of
the allotment? And what steps if any could be taken to removing such
insects? Thanks.

Negligible. Dangerous scorpions have large stingers and small claws;
the European yellow-tailed scorpion is exactly the converse. Just
warn them that there are things that sting and not to stick their
fingers into holes. None of that differs from the pre-scorpion era,
with bees, wasps, mice, shrews etc.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

john west posted
Recently a Scorpion was reported seen on our Nature Garden at our North
London Allotment.

What kind of a risk might this pose to children visiting this part of
the allotment? And what steps if any could be taken to removing such
insects? Thanks.

First find your scorpion. How reliable was the report?

--
Jack

In article ,
says...

On Thu, 31 Aug 2017 09:46:30 +0100, john west
wrote:

Recently a Scorpion was reported seen on our Nature Garden at our North
London Allotment.

What kind of a risk might this pose to children visiting this part of
the allotment?

Well, there's a risk they might learn something useful, like observing
insects and nature and being taught something about them.

And what steps if any could be taken to removing such
insects? Thanks.

Allotments are a good place to teach children about their place in the
wider community of gardening and nature. If the child is bored and
pesky, best remove it.

Almost certainly, no risk at all. Scorpions have been resident in the
UK for a century and a half, mostly in dockland areas where they
probably came in on imported goods. The best known is the
Yellow-Tailed scorpion, that has a thriving colony on the Isle of
Sheppy, centred on the dockland area of Sheerness. They can reach 2
inches long, apparently, but their sting is relatively harmless, being
no worse than a bee or wasp sting, although if the victim is allergic
to such stings, the effects could be serious. But that applies equally
to bee and wasp stings for those individuals, and bees and wasps are
ubiquitous. See for example this wildlife web site:
http://www.jasonsteelwildlifephotogr...-scorpions.php

That was interesting, thanks.

Janet.

On 31 Aug 2017 09:09, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article ,
john west wrote:
Recently a Scorpion was reported seen on our Nature Garden at our
North
London Allotment.

What kind of a risk might this pose to children visiting this part of
the allotment? And what steps if any could be taken to removing such
insects? Thanks.

Negligible. Dangerous scorpions have large stingers and small claws;
the European yellow-tailed scorpion is exactly the converse. Just
warn them that there are things that sting and not to stick their
fingers into holes. None of that differs from the pre-scorpion era,
with bees, wasps, mice, shrews etc.

and here the False Widow Spider. I have learnt to look before grabbing
anything in our garage, a tip learnt from relatives in Oz.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On 31 Aug 2017 10:18, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 31 Aug 2017 09:46:30 +0100, john west
wrote:

Recently a Scorpion was reported seen on our Nature Garden at our
North
London Allotment.

What kind of a risk might this pose to children visiting this part of
the allotment? And what steps if any could be taken to removing such
insects? Thanks.

Almost certainly, no risk at all. Scorpions have been resident in the
UK for a century and a half, mostly in dockland areas where they
probably came in on imported goods. The best known is the
Yellow-Tailed scorpion, that has a thriving colony on the Isle of
Sheppy, centred on the dockland area of Sheerness. They can reach 2
inches long, apparently, but their sting is relatively harmless, being
no worse than a bee or wasp sting, although if the victim is allergic
to such stings, the effects could be serious. But that applies equally
to bee and wasp stings for those individuals, and bees and wasps are
ubiquitous. See for example this wildlife web site:
http://www.jasonsteelwildlifephotogr...-scorpions.php

Also in some parts of the underground in London I understand.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

and here the False Widow Spider. I have learnt to look before grabbing
anything in our garage, a tip learnt from relatives in Oz.

I learnt to shake shoes out before putting them on, to dislodge any
scorpions, before I was four. But that wasn't in the UK :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , says...

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

and here the False Widow Spider. I have learnt to look before grabbing
anything in our garage, a tip learnt from relatives in Oz.

I learnt to shake shoes out before putting them on, to dislodge any
scorpions, before I was four. But that wasn't in the UK :-)

In UK we learned to shake out all shoes boots and wellies to remove
the dead rodents cached there by the cat.

Janet.

On Thu, 31 Aug 2017 13:25:26 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article , says...

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

and here the False Widow Spider. I have learnt to look before grabbing
anything in our garage, a tip learnt from relatives in Oz.

I learnt to shake shoes out before putting them on, to dislodge any
scorpions, before I was four. But that wasn't in the UK :-)

In UK we learned to shake out all shoes boots and wellies to remove
the dead rodents cached there by the cat.

Janet.

Or on one memorable occasion a live frog.

Not sure which looked more startled.

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On Thursday, 31 August 2017 20:01:39 UTC+1, David wrote:
On Thu, 31 Aug 2017 13:25:26 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article , says...

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

and here the False Widow Spider. I have learnt to look before grabbing
anything in our garage, a tip learnt from relatives in Oz.

I learnt to shake shoes out before putting them on, to dislodge any
scorpions, before I was four. But that wasn't in the UK :-)

In UK we learned to shake out all shoes boots and wellies to remove
the dead rodents cached there by the cat.

Janet.

Or on one memorable occasion a live frog.

Not sure which looked more startled.

Cheers


Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Or in my case the wasp in winter, which was a problem as it stung me and I am anaphylactic. Luckily the EPI pen worked and nothing serious happened.

Jonathan

On 31/08/2017 13:25, Janet wrote:
In article , says...

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

and here the False Widow Spider. I have learnt to look before grabbing
anything in our garage, a tip learnt from relatives in Oz.

I learnt to shake shoes out before putting them on, to dislodge any
scorpions, before I was four. But that wasn't in the UK :-)

In UK we learned to shake out all shoes boots and wellies to remove
the dead rodents cached there by the cat.

Janet.

Dead ones are bad but the other day our cat had lost a live one which
was hiding in the toe of my wellie, the traditional shake failed to
reveal the surprise and I now hold the record for the fastest removal of
a wellie ever!

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk