Mosquito larvae

[GaryE28 143]

This is an aside, but as a Canadian when I've visited the UK, the shortage of window screens fascinates me. We had hotel rooms with windows that opened wide to the elements. Pigeons, rodents, even athletic hedgehogs could have climbed right in with us. Here, we'd be eaten alive by mosquitoes and biting flies with those set ups.

Does the no screening thing extend past London, or is it just that that one environment is so wrecked that your mosquitoes have emigrated to Canada?

 

[Essjay28 143]

I have never come across a hotel or private home with window screens. I'm not sure if I'd recognise a mosquito if I saw one.
All we get in the house are moths attracted by lights in the evening and houseflies which seem to be attracted by cooking smells when the kitchen door or window is open. Oh, and wasps. The attic has about a dozen old wasps' nests up there, and we occasionally get tree bees nesting in the top of the cavity wall but those don't come in through the windows.

When we grew vegetables we did get a biting insect of some sort but they stayed in the veggies. I had to harvest the veg wearing trousers tucked into socks and a long sleeved top with elasticated wrists and waist. They didn't seem to like my hands or face but everywhere else got badly bitten if I didn't cover up.

 

[sharkweek178]

It's been years since we had a summer with as many mosquitoes as this one. The bites. I'm one of those people they like to bite. I seem very attractive to them. I suppose I should appreciate that.

So the fish have been feeding well. The deer drink the water and the mosquitoes lay eggs in what's essentially a trap. I soak wood pieces in the cultures to sink them, and those just came out and went into tanks yesterday. I may dump out one bucket as I don't think I'll be able to keep up.

Much of our province is bordering on a drought, and fire bans are pretty widespread. About one dawn in three has that reddish haze we hate. But my small micro-region has had above average rainfall, and several days where the fog stayed thick all day. If I were a mosquito, this would be my summer of love. I'm sure some of that buzzing I hear at night is mosquitoes singing crappy nostalgia songs about their teenaged summers.

I haven't removed a single midge larvae (bloodworm) this year, and in last summer's drought, I could get a dozen in a net sweep.

Granted, I have a fishroom. But I don't know how many thousands of larvae go into the tanks every summer. Quite a few. I can harvest 100 or more daily with no effort. This year, I haven't been bitten once in the fishroom, and last year I only got a tiny number of itchy spots from out there. Walking the dog in the morning can leave me battling ravenous hordes. Fish really make short work of mosquito larvae, It has drawbacks, but for what I keep here, they really are the best food.

And that kind mother nature is bountiful with them....

I actually started culturing later this year than I would have liked. Still getting a tremendous amount. My goal this year is to harvest enough to also have a stockpile of frozen to feed through the winter. I figure October through March. So 24 weeks worth. Right now I'm at an estimated 18 weeks worth. Probably another month or two of mosquito season to go so I think I'll make it.

 

[Naughts28 100]

This is an aside, but as a Canadian when I've visited the UK, the shortage of window screens fascinates me. We had hotel rooms with windows that opened wide to the elements. Pigeons, rodents, even athletic hedgehogs could have climbed right in with us. Here, we'd be eaten alive by mosquitoes and biting flies with those set ups.

Does the no screening thing extend past London, or is it just that that one environment is so wrecked that your mosquitoes have emigrated to Canada?

North of London and no window screens here, NGL I had to google them to be sure what you mean. As well as the insect problem being minimal, spiders that bite are few and far between with only mild symptoms. We have no large predatory animals native to the uk - bears and wolves are long gone. We only have 6 reptiles with a single venomous snake, the adder which prefers heaths snd woods to residences. And the small-medium mammals animals we do have avoid humans.
Generally.
There was an incident at my daughter’s student flat with open biscuit packets and an open basement window but no one saw the fox suspect that night so who knows?

 

[Essjay28 143]

Back in the 1990s we did have a pipistrelle bat invade our spare bedroom. Our sons and their friends were playing Nintendo games on the TV in there without the light on. The windows were wide open and the bat flew in. Whether the TV/games console was emitting bat-disorientating signals I don't know but we turned everything off, shut the door and it soon found its way out.

 

[sharkweek178]

Back in the 1990s we did have a pipistrelle bat invade our spare bedroom. Our sons and their friends were playing Nintendo games on the TV in there without the light on. The windows were wide open and the bat flew in. Whether the TV/games console was emitting bat-disorientating signals I don't know but we turned everything off, shut the door and it soon found its way out.

I once had a bat somehow get into my bedroom. It landed on my neck while i was sleeping. Scared the hell out of me. I almost got my gun to start shooting at it. I managed to catch it and release it outside.
The only thing that would have made it worse is if the police would have then knocked on my door and said they had a report of a woman screaming.

 

[CaptainBarnicles5 3]

Window screens are not a thing over here and I think the amount of mosquitos you encounter will depend on where you live. I'd say the only animal I'm scared of in this country are the ginormous house spiders that invade our homes from late August onwards