Fwd: Mosquito comment didn't go through

[Frederick W. Schueler]

Here's Bev Wigney's comment:

Ian and all,

Perhaps they've all moved to Nova Scotia!  We are having a bumper crop
of them this year -- in spite of weeks of almost no rain.  What *is*
rather weird is that their bites seem worse than usual.  I rarely react
to a mosquito bite -- never any bumps or itching.  However, this year's
crop of mosquitoes leaves terrible bumps that last for at least 2
weeks!  I spend a lot of time outdoors at night photographing moths and
my legs are covered in bumps that just won't go away.  I mentioned this
to my brother who also lives here and he said he is finding the same --
never reacted to mosquito bites before, but he's covered in bumps that
won't go away.  How very odd.

Bev Wigney
Formerly of eastern Ontario.
Now in the Annapolis Valley, NS.

--
------------------------------------------------------------
---------Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad ------------ Fragile
Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/ 6
St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------

[rmb...@istar.ca]

Ah yes, the moth photographer's bane! On some of these hot muggy
nights I've had to put on long pants and my thin shell windbreaker
jacket so as not to get eaten alive. Generally the mosquitoes have
been somewhat less in numbers than normal up to the first of July.
The big honkin' "spring" mosquitoes were not as numerous. Some years
when I take my dog out in the evening it seems like an army swarm is
waiting like a cloud around the doorway, one simply can NOT sneak in
or out without bringing a few dozen in with you, and since my dog is
very elderly that door is open longer while I get her out and back in.
The descending hordes seize upon this opportunity to advance and
invade. Once BigWetNose is settled back on her bed the hunt begins,
my weapon of choice being a bright red Canadian Tire badminton
raquet-shaped electric paddle that is swung with great enthusiasm. I
know I have hit my targets when the paddle lights up with a snap and a
sizzle. Some of my quarry are masters of camouflage, and wait
patiently, hidden behind a curtain or bookshelf, until after lights
out they reconnoiter and make the counter-attack on me, dog, and
boyfriend while our guard is down. The springtime invaders are larger
and slower than the summer mosquitoes, these little varmints are
smaller and quicker, and I have actually had them pass through the
electrified mesh of the "bug bat" unscathed. I have learned that one
has better success to wait a minute for the mosquitoes to land against
the wall and then press the bat up against them, they need to jump
back to fly, and that will land them into the bat.

I've noticed that there are many more dragonflies this year. I may
have lamented on the lack of them these past 3 or 4 summers that their
numbers had dropped noticeably. This year I'm happy to see that they
have rebounded nicely. The blackfly numbers are still way down, we
used to love to watch the dragonflies picking them off near the end of
their season. I'm wondering if the dragonflies turned to the spring
mosquitoes to fill their quota of edibles. Deerflies are at about a
normal level, when I go to the beach for a swim or tend to my raised
garden beds it is delightful to have a dragonfly swoop past my ears
and snatch up a deerfly or horsefly.

Last night's moth sessions were enjoyable, not nearly the number of
moths as there has been these past 3 weeks but there were no
mosquitoes in the cool weather. This will change by Thursday when the
temps are predicted to rise to 30C during the day and warm at night.

As annoying as the mosquitoes are I keep reminding myself that I owe
my existence in part to mosquitoes. My German father was drafted
into the army during WW2 by (he used expletives to refer to describe
the government) and sent off to fight in Russia. A couple of times
when the Russian army attacked and overtook their position the German
soldiers were scattered and forced to flee through the forests. He
said one time he was exhausted, and sat down by a tree a couple of
times to catch his breath. He said the Russian mosquitoes were big,
and soon found him, and were more relentless in their pursuit of him
than any Russian soldier. They drove him to his feet and kept him
moving. He often thanked those mosquitoes for having saved him where
he may have been captured or killed. Those hungry swarms often kept
the soldiers posted to night watch awake and aware.

Rose-Marie, near Perth Road Village

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