Finland? When was the last time that northern country was in the news I asked myself. But there it was, a small item in yesterday's news. Finland has solved its problem with mosquitoes. Oh, it wasn't actually that Finland planned the demise of its mosquito population, a formula that would bring the rest of the world to its borders clamouring for it to compassionately share its secret with everyone.

It was in fact the universal effects on this planet of weather conditions. And perhaps with a nod to climate change thrown in for good measure.

Finland has been hot and dry. Which is to say there has been so little rainfall that it's in a drought situation. No little puddles here and there for mosquitoes to breed, in other words. No disgusting wriggling larvae preparing to hatch into bloodthirsty carnivores of the insect population to make life miserable, for birds and animals of all kinds, including humankind.

An almost total absence of mosquitoes was something we too experienced in our little  area of the world this summer, as well. When we too were facing a critical absence of rainfall, and the hot, dry conditions killed off all opportunity for mosquitoes to flourish. So we were able to get out into the woodland landscape for daily walks on forest trails without having to slap away mosquitoes and blackflies. Both had been in nasty evidence for the spring season. We celebrated their absence in early-to-mid summer.

And now? Now they're devouring us, the wretched little devils. We have no shortage of dry days -- or at least part of each day that's dry, and sunny -- but for the past several weeks we've been inundated with all manner of rain events, from persistent drizzles to definitely emphatic thunderstorms. And so once again there is standing water on the forest floor enjoyed by mosquitoes prepared to launch themselves mercilessly on their vicious mission to extract blood from anything that moves.

Yesterday happened to be heavily overcast after morning fog greeted the day in a temperature inversion and the results of overnight rain. The temperature rose to only 27C but the humidity was so high anything we touched, from paper to linen felt damp and so did we.

We prefer not to use insect repellent, and I took some precaution anticipating that mosquitoes might be a problem, in wearing a light-long-sleeved shirt. But the wind was down and the sun was hidden and the mosquitoes gathered in impressive numbers alert to our vulnerability and presence and managed through their efforts in ongoing wholesale attacks to make yesterday's trail walks through the forest a somewhat less than pleasant, albeit unusually so, experience.