Wayne D's Blog

For a number of years the Explorer group that I help out with has gone canoing around this time of year near Parry Sound Ontario. One of the reasons to go at this time is to avoid the biting insects including black flies and mosquitoes which are prevalent earlier in the season. In previous years I have even napped unprotected in the middle of the day and remained unmolested. Any bugs that we did encounter occurred at sunset and were minimally disruptive. This year was a different story, the bugs were savage and unrelenting. Other than when we were on the water we were surrounded by clouds of insects. Everyone was wearing bug nets almost constantly. At one point while seated on the commode in the woods I looked down to see more mosquitoes than I have ever seen in one place hovering around my uncovered legs. It looked like the old mosquito repellent commercial where the researcher placed his unprotected arm in the clear box of mosquitoes. One the left side of my neck I have a number of bumps where my mosquito net was resting against my neck which the insects took full advantage of. When I went to take a shower after returning home one of my socks was ringed with small blood stains where the black flies had came up my one pant leg and bitten me at the top of my sock. Strangely the other ankle only had one bite. The gruesome picture below, which is not for the faint of heart, shows the bites on the other ankle. I have used a smaller thumbnail than normally to minimize the horror. I also had a bite right in the middle of my forehead. They all itch like mad but I didn't feel the bugs when they were biting me. Is this unusual insect activity one of the side effects of global climate change? Only time will tell.