Be Tick Aware Campaign Roundup 2025

Thank you for your support!

We are so grateful to everyone who took part in our Be Tick Aware Campaign this May, for Lyme Disease Awareness Month 2025. This year we chose a brand new campaign name and logo replacing our previous Wake Up to Lyme campaign branding. Plus we refreshed all of our awareness materials too!

Tick Twister ® 30 year anniversary logo

As always, our patient community truly stepped up to help make the campaign a fantastic success! A huge thank you also to Tick Twister ® who sponsored our campaign this year. Our campaign aimed to raise awareness about how to prevent tick bites, how to safely remove ticks, and the importance of early treatment for people who become unwell following a bite. Be Tick Aware Logo Thank you to everyone who shared social media posts and photos online, ordered awareness packs and distributed posters and leaflets throughout their local communities. Also those who joined in on Wear Lime for Lyme Day, fundraised, donated, supported Light Up for Lyme, took part in media interviews and ran local pop-up events. We couldn’t have done it without you! The Lyme community is truly a powerful force!

Campaign in numbers

With your help we were delighted to achieve the following success!
  • Achieved over 1.5 million views on our social media platforms (around 90% non-followers of our platforms).
  • Distributed over 11,000 leaflets, 7,000 tick awareness cards and 5,000 posters.
  • Enjoyed seeing nearly 40 landmarks and venues across the UK light up for Lyme.
  • Welcomed over 35,000 visitors to our website.
  • Displayed our awareness literature in over 3,000 GP surgeries.
  • Played our Be Tick Aware animation on 800 pharmacy screens.
Although it’s not possible to know exactly how many people have seen our information overall, we know that our campaign has reached thousands. Thanks to your hard work, we have sent out clear messages about the importance of tick bite prevention and risk of Lyme disease far and wide. Read more below about our awareness activities.

Media coverage

We were delighted to see meaningful coverage on Lyme disease, having contributed to a number of TV, radio and press features. We are very grateful to all patients who came forward to share their stories.
  • BBC Radio Scotland: The Sunday Show – Eleanor Kay from Scottish Land and Estates, and Julia Knight, LDUK’s Press and Community Outreach Manager, discuss the increasing threat of Lyme disease.
  • BBC News – ‘Study finds pheasant link to Lyme disease germ’.
  • Bournemouth Echo – ‘Lyme Disease: How to avoid tick bites and symptoms to spot’.
  • Telegraph – ‘Pheasants could be spreading Lyme disease study suggests’.
  • Norwich Guardian – ‘Lyme Disease cases on rise as spring weather warms up’.
  • BBC Morning Live – Dr Krishan explains the risk of Lyme disease and gives tick bite prevention tips.
  • BBC Radio Solent – Presenter Steve Harris, talks Lyme disease with patient advocate, Tracey West, and LDUK’s Co-founder and Chair, Natasha Metcalf.
Dr Krishan on BBC Morning Live.

Dr Krishan discussing Lyme disease on BBC Morning Live

Social media impact

“Lyme Disease is a serious illness that affects many lives… It can occur after being bitten by bacteria carrying ticks resulting in life-changing consequences if not treated early.”

~ Alexander Burnett MSP on Facebook

Our information made an impact across multiple social media platforms, our reach increased due to our new LDUK TikTok account.  Many organisations shared and commented on our posts, and we are very grateful for the support.   Amongst others, our thanks go to the following organisations and individuals for helping to raise awareness online.
  • National Gamekeepers’ Organisation Educational Trust
  • The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust
  • RSABI (founded as the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution)
  • The British Deer Society 
  • Peak District Moorland Group
  • Crane Valley Primary Care Network
  • Brandon Town Council
  • Hook Parish Council
  • Community Pharmacy England
  • UKHSA North East/North West/East of England
  • UK Health Security Agency
  • Drlogy
  • Alexander Burnett MSP
  • Jake Swindells – Scottish Countryside Alliance

Updated animations for 2025

This year we also updated our awareness animations for 2025 to help share our key messages. The animations were so useful to share online and also offer to pharmacies and GP surgeries as free downloads for their display screens. Recognising the Lyme rash animation. A round oval shape usually at the sight of a tick bite (with example images).

Patient advocacy

Special thanks to Luke Gilbert, LDUK Patient Ambassador Sam Ash, and Tracey West for bravely sharing their incredibly challenging experiences publicly to help raise awareness. We are also very grateful to another amazing Patient Ambassador, Angela Jones (Bullough), for her unwavering dedication to the Lyme community. Educating NHS staff at the Thomas Linacre Centre in Wigan on the issues facing Lyme patients ensured our awareness materials were displayed throughout the entire two-storey building. Clinical teams there are now far better informed.
Our thanks also go to Lyme patient Vicky Hamlin, for sending us a heartfelt poem to mark Lyme Disease Awareness Month (scroll down to read).

Angela spreading awareness about Lyme disease within the NHS

Wear Lime for Lyme Day

Wear Lime for Lyme Day marked the start of our awareness campaign activities. Thank you to everyone who dressed up in green and ordered T-shirts, hoodies, lapel pins and other accessories from our LDUK online shop. Our pet photography competition was again a firm favourite – we loved seeing photos of your pets dressed up in green! Congratulations to Livvy and Hettie, who stole first and second prize in the competition. A big thank you also to all of the entrants that took part. View our pet photography competition 2025 winners.

#LightUpForLyme

This year there was great interest in Light Up For Lyme with just under 40 venues and landmarks across the UK and Ireland lighting up in green to raise awareness of the disease. We are very grateful to Lyme Resource Centre, Tick Talk Ireland, all patient advocates involved, and of course the teams organising light-ups at participating sites. An extra thank you goes to Hotel La Tour in Milton Keynes, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and Abbeyshrule Abbey in County Longford, Ireland for lighting up every single evening throughout May! We are also particularly grateful to Tower 42 in London for displaying our Be Tick Aware campaign slogan in lights. Not forgetting Lyme advocate, Hannah Green, and her horse Lusso, for raising awareness at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. View our Light Up For Lyme photo gallery. The mast at Alexandra Palace lit up in green at night.

Alexandra Palace, London

Focus on local communities

This year our campaign focussed on spreading awareness about Lyme disease to local communities as well as continuing to educate healthcare professionals on the need for prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment. We sponsored the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH)‘s Workshop and AGM in London on 16th May, which helped raise our profile with key decision makers in the health sector. Our thanks go to the ADPH for featuring our logo on their website and event slides, and including our profile in delegate packs and their weekly newsletter. LDUK leaflets on display on the registration desk at the ADPH AGM.

LDUK awareness leaflets on display at the ADPH’s AGM

We also reached out to regional tourist offices across the UK by email to share our key messages. Once again a number of organisations including Community Pharmacy England (CPE), NHS England, and the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) were keen to promote our information via their websites and newsletters. We shared our Be Tick Aware animation on over 800 pharmacy screens throughout the UK thanks to Healthpoint TV.  We also sent our awareness posters to over 3,000 GP surgeries across the UK. Remember to keep an eye out when you next visit your doctor!

Awareness animation displayed on a pharmacy screen.

Looking ahead, we also booked to display our information on a poster board at the Local Government Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in Liverpool from 1st-3rd July 2025. This event is for senior representatives from local authorities, as well as the business, voluntary and community sectors. A focus of the event is to address social care, public health and health inequalities in local communities.

Collaborating with charities and organisations

This year we’ve been thrilled to continue our relationships with fellow charities and organisations who are keen to support our cause.  Thank you to Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the School and Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA) for sharing our information. Our thanks also go to Carers Card UK for kindly donating 10 cards for our community members. These national cards offer carers exclusive discounts, reassurance with emergency contact details, access to well-being resources, free events and a supportive community – all through the Carers Card UK app.

Additionally we are very grateful to Nurturing by Nature for displaying our awareness materials in their Upton branch and all four Dorset stores.

LDUK Leaflets on display in a Nurturing by Nature store.

Fabulous fundraisers!

Fundraising is critical for Lyme Disease UK to enable us to continue the work that we do. This awareness month we’ve been blown away by the support we’ve received! Our deepest thanks go to everyone that has gone above and beyond to both fundraise for us and also donate. Read more about some of our fundraisers below.

Thank you for supporting our Be Tick Aware Campaign!

We are so grateful to everyone that has contributed. Thanks to your hard work and generosity, we can continue to raise awareness during the summer months and prevent even more Lyme disease infections throughout the rest of the year!

A poem for Lyme Disease Awareness Month

Be Tick Aware

by Vicky Hamlin
Ticks are often found in towns, gardens and parks,
Not just forests and woods,
Tick-borne diseases lack knowledge and awareness,
And are largely misunderstood,
Lyme Disease is the most common,
That can be in the acute or chronic form,
Ticks are found in all seasons,
Not just when it’s warm,
However they are more prominent now,
During April-October tick activity peaks,
Which is why we see more people bitten,
And cases of Lyme Disease increase,
It’s essential to be diagnosed and treated,
As soon as you have a bite,
Many of us know if it goes undiagnosed,
You are in for one hell of a fight,
People often don’t know they’ve been bitten,
Or get the diagnostic bull’s-eye rash,
Which is when it can cause long-term effects,
And can change your life in a flash,
There are too many symptoms to list,
When it comes to living with Lyme,
They fluctuate and flare up,
But are with us all of the time,
Lyme Disease is extremely debilitating,
And often comes with co-infections as well,
It can be brutal and relentless,
And feel like going through hell,
It is hard to get help and support,
Many of us are left to fend for ourselves,
Doing all we can,
To try and regain our health,
It can be difficult to explain to others,
As much as it is for them to understand,
We want to raise more awareness,
So you never have to experience it first-hand,
As May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month,
We want you to talk about it and share,
For you to be informed and educated,
So we can all be tick aware,
You can find more information on LDUK,
To be well equipped and prepared,
And every time you enjoy the outdoors,
Be sure to check your body everywhere!