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| Book 2 of the Award-winning Twisted Climb series |
In June, it started with the shad fly. A swarm of millions. We encountered the swarm near our home in south-central Ontario, and travelled several kilometres until we were clear of them. EW.
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| Driving into a swarm of shad flies |
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| Smushed shad flies on my truck |
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| ... and on the antenna. What the heck? |
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| Shad flies, also called May flies or fish flies (cuz they smell like fish when they're dead), on the grill of my truck. |
And then came the gypsy moth caterpillars...
First, they were crawling over trees, eating leaves, decimating forests.
Then, after 'hatching' from the pupae stage, the moths fly in your face, body-slam your back (can they see?), and lay eggs everywhere. Everywhere!
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| Mating moths (white-coloured female, brown-coloured male) beside tear-shaped pupae |
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| The female gypsy moth and their egg patches |
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| In Canada, duct tape is used for just about anything... though this property owner forgot to put the 'sticky' side, out. |
The gypsy moths (Latin name Lymantria dispar dispar), originated in Europe and were first detected in Ontario, Canada, in 1969. There have been multiple outbreaks over the years and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources staff agree that this infestation is the worst one since 1990. Gypsy moth caterpillars are voracious eaters and prefer oak, maple, basswood, beech and white pine. They will eat the leaves/needles of these trees, stripping them to bare branches. While defoliation won't kill the tree, the damage will cause a significant decrease in the tree's natural growth. Surprising fact: only the caterpillars eat - the adult moths survive for about two weeks with the sole purpose of mating / laying eggs. I was recently camping at Killbear Provincial Park near Parry Sound and I can say first-hand the infestation there is horrible. Gypsy moths were everywhere. EW!
Personally, moths, caterpillars and shad flies don't bother me. But spiders... oh they bother me a lot. So it was with great goose-bumps and shudders that I included big, black, hairy, hand-sized spiders in Book 2 of The Twisted Climb series, Darkness Descends. Uncovering a spiders' nest is just one of many adventures encountered by Jayden, Connor and Max. If you love action / adventure / suspense / drama and a hint of the paranormal, you'll love The Twisted Climb books. No EWs involved. Well, maybe a few. Enjoy!
The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends
(Book 2)
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018,
Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada
AND
The Twisted Climb,
voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016,
P&E Readers Poll
Novels for teens, young adults and
adults young at heart
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh
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Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C.
Kavanagh)
The thought of all those bugs is rather eerie. The only thing I've encountered like that are the locusts and they cone many years apart.
ReplyDeleteLocusts... eww!!
DeleteWell, I never knew that. I find the bugs more scary than the spiders, even though we have a few that can kill here in Australia. Perhaps it's because they come in such vast numbers. I think one of our worse imported pests here are cane toads--the ugliest looking creatures you will see and they can be in large numbers up north.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to google 'cane toads.' Thanks for sharing, Tricia!
ReplyDelete