Assessment of tick dispersal is a central issue for the understanding of the eco-epidemiology of tick-borne‐diseases and for the development of control methods against this vector and transmitted pathogens. Tick dispersal is mainly due to host movements. However, because of the high diversity of Ixodes ricinus hosts, to which is associated a wide range of dispersal abilities (ranging from a few meters for rodents to hundred of kilometers for birds) and of the unknown relative contribution of the different host species in tick feeding, estimating tick dispersal is a particularly challenging task. Population genetics, by the assessment of gene flow, provides particularly valuable information to estimate tick dispersal. Unfortunately, the microsatellite loci developed until now for I. ricinus exhibit heterozygous deficiency and null alleles that are harmful for any population genetics investigations. To circumvent this caveat, we have developed a set of SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). The genotype assignation of those bi‐allelic markers are unambiguous and straightforward. Moreover the large number of loci allows a wide coverage of the polymorphism in the I. ricinus genome. Because of the scarcity of genomic resources for I. ricinus, we have conducted a partial sequencing of its genome to isolate SNPs using high throughput sequencing, the 454 technology. Among the 1,2 millions of reads obtained (average length 540 bp) 384 SNPs were isolated. Finally, Five hundred questing nymphs - individually georeferenced ‐ collected in a landscape (with forests, hedges and pastures) from western France were genotyped by Fluidigm system. The first results concerning the landscape genetics analysis of the variability of ticks at such a local scale reveal a strong genetic differentiation between ticks sampled in the core of a forest relatively to its hedge (located at a few kilometers apart). Between those two locations, microclimatic differences as well as difference in the attendance of the various host species used by ticks (and hence host races in ticks) could be responsible for the genetic divergence observed.