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.
The spraying of The Cottage by The Bug Man has been wonderfully effective in preventing the spiders, cockroaches and many other bugs from living in with me. The downside is that many innocent moths and unidentified insects also die. So far nothing apart from the seriously unwelcome have been left on the deck in the morning by the scavenging birds. Yesterday the above was on the deck and presumably not thought to be a tasty morsel by anyone. I may have seen one before but am not sure. CJ may remember because I would certainly have asked/told him depending on the state of my knowledge. I cannot find it in my Insects of New Zealand but have a sneaking feeling that I decided last time that it might have been an Ichneumonid Wasp and CJ agreed. Am I correct or am I dreaming?
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