Graham Denby: creepy-crawlies to avoid in Portugal

Oct 21 2009 by Graham Denby

AS I have mentioned previously, there is a particularly harsh set of insects out in Portugal. The flies are pretty awful and if their bite can annoy the horses with their thick hides, imagine how easy is for them to enjoy a nibble on us.

There is also a whole array of creepers, crawlers and slitherers to be wary of, if not avoided altogether.

Heading the list of these has to be scorpions and snakes. Both species are pretty adept at avoiding humans too, which is all good.

We have done tons of stone clearing around the paddocks and it needed the permanent wearing of ‘rigger’ gloves, not just to keep my hands as soft as my face, but mainly to give me some protection should a scorpion be uncovered.

They seem to live in burrows under large, flat stones and I guess they lie underneath said stone in the heat of the day. When the stone is lifted they always scuttle off down the burrow...but not half as fast as I scuttle off down the hill in the opposite direction!

Apparently the sting is not deadly but very painful and if stung it is recommended you take the offending scorpion to hospital with you for identification prior to treatment.

I guess most of them they see are flat, having been stomped on repeatedly following the sting...quite right too!

Snakes are less ‘sneaky’ but often more in evidence. Like in the UK the vast majority are harmless but they do have adders (apparently the subtractors left years ago!) which are venomous.

We see grass snakes often and hear them slithering through the long grass on the bankings even more often. Some of them are very large and long and folks have found them coiled up in outside buildings such as pool service sheds, so it’s always wise to wear your specs when you go in the hut to pick up a coiled ‘hose’.