Parking 'you know what' to one side for a minute, I've just twist and jerked a bloated, bloody tick from the skin it had buried itself into (happily, the dog's). Is this early? Mild winter?

Aye, see my post from yesterday. Pulled one off my body yesterday morning. It was 14c here on Monday and I'd been out for a short run.

I found a tick on my daughter's neck the weekend before Christmas! This is in central Scotland. There's not much of an off season these days...

Had a tick on my calf yesterday, must've picked it up Tuesday evening when I took the dog out.

Yep, down here in Essex the other week, my dad had to remove a few from the house (on his clothes, not attached)...

They're definitely more prevalent than they used to be - I've lived in Essex most of my life, as had my dad, and it's only the past few things we've even seen the things. I've got several sets of tick tweezers now, so that there's a set in each of my bags I use for cycling, and in the backpack I take most places, a set for partner etc.