Last summer it was slim pickings for insect photography. The drought really did a number on the tinier creatures (except for, of course, the Japanese Beetles who apparently can survive anything). It warmed up so fast in late winter that I saw butterflies for the first time ever in March. Unfortunately those were about the only butterflies I’d see for the rest of the summer.
I appreciated the fact that there were no katydids chewing on my daylilies, but it was a lot quieter without their funny sounds drifting through the neighborhood day and night.
The dragonflies made a brief appearance in our garden in April (one month early). Because we live within a mile of a pond they often visit our garden to snatch mosquitoes, and I’m very grateful. Of course once the temperature soared and the drought kicked in they were nowhere to be found. Thankfully neither were the mosquitoes.
We’ve had very little snow this winter other than one big storm. In fact the ground isn’t even frozen. I know because last week I decided to stake up one of my blizzard-damaged arborvitaes with an 8-foot stake, and I had no problem shoving it through the snow into the soil below.
We’re still officially in a moderate drought, so that’s probably how we’ll begin the growing season. It will be interesting (or perhaps horrifying) to see which insects appear in the spring.