I am a peaceful man and I don't enjoy killing things. The only things I actively seek to destroy are wasps which I detest.Be that as it may today the Bug Man came. Every year The Cottage is treated to deter the potential bug invasion which inevitably occurs without it. It is sprayed outside and in with something which, whilst presumably not beneficial to me, is less beneficial to the potential bug population. Well, actually, it doesn't stop the bugs entering my space but it does ensure that once they have entered they don't last long enough to do much damage.
The problem is that I live in the country surrounded by a myriad of bugs which find my space irresistable. Without the treatment I would spend my life chasing Gisborne Cockroaches (with which I am quite at peace when they are outside). From the magnificent (and huge) Huhu Beetle to tiny unidentifiable ones. Flies from minute sand and fruit flies to huge flies which, oddly, are no nuisance at all because they buzz (very noisily) in, bang against the windows and buzz out again and are not interested in me or my food. By far the most irritating (though they don't bite) are the common house flies (or whatever) which are determined to irritate me and crawl on every thing with which my mouth is likely to come into contact. Moths I can live with in reasonable numbers but when you can't see the (very large) TV screen because of them that's excessive. And the spiders. Oh the spiders. I've got used to the ones which measure less than 8 mm but anything over that is verboten and there were hundreds in the space above the deck: the last year's spray having worn off more quickly outside than inside.
So I'm sorry but the Bug Man came and in the morning the deck will be littered with bug corpses. C'est la vie. En fait c'est la mort.
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Looking forward to seeing some bug pictures - even though they'll be dead!
ReplyDeleteLast year I got some really good ones including the Huhu and Longhorn Beetles. One of the things that has worried me most about the spraying is that the birds come and clear up the bugs at crack of dawn before I'm awake. I'm not sure that eating insecticided bugs is good for their tummies. Yesterday all I had to shovel up was a dustpanfull of wee sand/fruit/black flies which were like dust on the white door frame. Even the birds couldn't have found then appetising. It's not just moths that are attracted to the light. dozens of spiders came out of hiding and died and they have all been eaten. Yuck.
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