Just as well we tend to recall to mind the carefree days of spring and summer. Forgotten are the voracious predators that feast on our tender flesh. As soon as the weather turns decently warm and the ground has received spring rain, leaving puddles about because the ground is already saturated with the winter runoff of melted snow and ice, out come those mosquito larvae, and before we know it, they've progressed to maturity and hungrily search us out.

Oh, not just us, of course. There's little doubt that the creatures of the forest represent fair game for those bloodsuckers, as well as the humans who enter the forested confines in search of pleasure and leisure activity. Just imagine, if we shudder at the thought of hundreds of mosquitoes alighting on our skin, how much worse it is for other warm-blooded creatures like birds and small mammals. They must suffer exquisitely. We can cover ourselves to protect as much as possible from those stings, and we can, if we wish, use mosquito repellent; they have no such protection.

The mosquitoes come in flushes throughout the months. We usually get big clumsy ones early in the season, slow-movers we can quickly dispatch if we become aware of their wicked presence on our skin; usually we are aware once the mosquito has done its work and is prepared to withdraw its proboscis. Later in the season the mosquitoes that are bred appear to be an entirely different strain; tinier, black rather than dark brown, and swifter to extricate themselves from harm's way; more sneaky about sucking our blood, and succeeding.

But it isn't only the mosquitoes; perhaps somewhat even more sinister and painful are the black flies that actually take a bite out of the epidermis in their blood-frenzy. Those tiny black flies flit about in a cloud of menacing intent; repellent works if it's slathered on and has plenty of the active ingredient DEET, but who wants that stuff on their skin, even for such an avoidance?

In July come the deer flies and later yet the hornets. We love seeing bees in the garden, flitting from flower to flower, doing their serious business. Their pollinating prowess we hugely esteem. Without their skills we would be in a parlous state since they are responsible for bringing much of what we eat in fruits, grains, vegetables to the dinner table. We would miss their presence. Not so deer flies and hornets though entomologists no doubt would have no trouble earnestly explaining to us that all creatures have a defined and definite purpose in the chain of existence.