The forest by Besednice

This winter has been quite warm, but there was a lot of wind and lots of the trees have been damaged and blown over. Our Czech family own a small area of the local forest and had to spend time clearing it this last weekend. James wanted to help, but was told that he shouldn't due to the risk of tick bites.

Ticks in the Czech Republic (and across Central Europe) can transmit encephalitis (Tick-Borne Encephalitis). TBE is a serious cause of acute central nervous system disease, which may result in death or long-term neurological dicsorders. See here for a short medical article about it.

Anyway, James wasn't allowed to go...