Wild Life

 

The insect invasion this year is from these jumpy things

They come in various sizes and colours

One of them landed on my back the other day, a long legged grasshopper, and it was so big I felt that someone had clapped me on my back

On the other hand there are very few wasps, flies and mosquitoes

Cicadas are still in full chorus but are no longer deafening

These last few days the weather has cooled down.  No need for fans and aircon.  The cicadas can feel autumn in the air

The ants are on a feeding frenzy.  Not a even a shadow of a crumb is left un-gathered.  I thought a dish left in the oven would be safe from them. No, they got in there in their hundreds.  I left a chicken out on the bench to defrost, in a big bowl.  They'll even eat it frozen. The bowl has to be full of water but even then a few hundred will sacrifice themselves trying to swim across to the chicken.

We were given a jar of NZ peanut butter.  Lovely stuff, made from real peanuts and nothing else.  I opened it and screwed the lid on again, tightly.  No problem at all for the ants.  They got in through a tightly closed lid.  That went into the fridge, as did absolutely everything else in the food range, from the sugar jar to bread, biscuits and a container of rice.

So why are the ants gathering supplies in such a frenzied manner.  Does this mean a long hard winter?  They know something that we don't.  

Our first wood supply is coming mid-September although hopefully we won't need to light a fire till November.

The cats are having their own feeding frenzy.  Lately they've been invading the compost pile.  They chew on watermelon rind, tomato skins and rotten grapes.  They are fed by our new neighbours everyday so they're not starving.