Got a couple of acres of swamp down here. Friend of mine won’t visit because of the mosquitoes. Makes sense, right? Swamp = mosquitos.
But there are hardly any! Might get buzzed twice at sundown, that’s it, far worse at my home. Also, unlike everywhere else in the South, there are zero fire ants. Literally not a single ant to be found.
All because I have a robust ecosystem out there. The tiny “ground attack” spiders, whatever they’re called, are legion. You won’t see one unless you look for 'em, or shine a flashlight across the ground at night. 100s of thousands per acre, maybe a million+.
I got banana spiders with fat webs for traps, dragonflies and hummingbirds for helicopters and jets. Tiny lizards prowl everywhere. Tiny fish in the “ponds” eat any larva or eggs that get in there, sometimes surface bugs.
All that scales up to snakes (oddly rare), small mammals, raptors, you get the idea.
tl;dr: Healthy system = hellish Deathworld for insects.
One other note: I’ve cleared about 1,200sq./ft. at the main camp site. Just that tiny bit of clearing is noticeably hotter than 60’-80’ down the trail. Haven’t taken thermometer readings, but you can feel an easy 5°F drop. Amazing that such a small spot becomes a heat island. Now look at the top and bottom pics. Does the bottom pic look hot to you? Does the top pic evoke feelings of coolness? Yeah. Imagine what our cities, roads and fields are doing to the overall environment.
I don’t have a swamp, but I have a wooded yard and can attest to most of what you said. However, in addition to the plethora of bug species and legion of spiders, I also have a shitload of mosquitos.
Got a couple of acres of swamp down here. Friend of mine won’t visit because of the mosquitoes. Makes sense, right? Swamp = mosquitos.
But there are hardly any! Might get buzzed twice at sundown, that’s it, far worse at my home. Also, unlike everywhere else in the South, there are zero fire ants. Literally not a single ant to be found.
All because I have a robust ecosystem out there. The tiny “ground attack” spiders, whatever they’re called, are legion. You won’t see one unless you look for 'em, or shine a flashlight across the ground at night. 100s of thousands per acre, maybe a million+.
I got banana spiders with fat webs for traps, dragonflies and hummingbirds for helicopters and jets. Tiny lizards prowl everywhere. Tiny fish in the “ponds” eat any larva or eggs that get in there, sometimes surface bugs.
All that scales up to snakes (oddly rare), small mammals, raptors, you get the idea.
tl;dr: Healthy system = hellish Deathworld for insects.
One other note: I’ve cleared about 1,200sq./ft. at the main camp site. Just that tiny bit of clearing is noticeably hotter than 60’-80’ down the trail. Haven’t taken thermometer readings, but you can feel an easy 5°F drop. Amazing that such a small spot becomes a heat island. Now look at the top and bottom pics. Does the bottom pic look hot to you? Does the top pic evoke feelings of coolness? Yeah. Imagine what our cities, roads and fields are doing to the overall environment.
I don’t have a swamp, but I have a wooded yard and can attest to most of what you said. However, in addition to the plethora of bug species and legion of spiders, I also have a shitload of mosquitos.