Leech collector

[2] There are obvious negative effects of being repeatedly bitten by leeches, most commonly the significant and dangerous levels of blood loss.

The leeches would suck on the legs of the collector for 20 minutes or more, and even when they had finished the resultant wound continued to bleed for up to ten hours.

[6] Hirudo medicinalis, the only species of leech in Britain that can suck human blood,[7] is identified as being "Near Threatened" by the IUCN.

Their decline dates back to the time of the collectors and Wordsworth refers to the fall in their numbers in Resolution and Independence Stanza XVIII: He with a smile did then his words repeat; And said, that, gathering leeches, far and wide He travelled; stirring thus about his feet The waters of the pools where they abide.

[8] By the turn of the 20th century H. medicinalis had disappeared from most of Europe and was declared extinct in the British Isles, but they were rediscovered in parts of Great Britain from 1970 onwards.