Mosquito problems here to stay

[unhappycamper]

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140215/NEWS/140217064/1994/NEWS

Mosquito problems here to stay

BOSTON - Bogs and birdbaths are frozen over now, but the approach of spring will bring with it the annual swarms of mosquitos and the attendant risks of eastern equine encephalitis, West Nile virus and the potential for new diseases to reach the Bay State.

“It is going to occur every single year and we don’t necessarily need to respond as though it’s a surprise or an emergency,” Dr. Catherine Brown told the Public Health Council Wednesday.

EEE has infected humans across a larger geographic area of Massachusetts in recent years with a potential “emerging hotspot along the New Hampshire border,” she said.

While accurate forecasting is difficult, it has become increasingly rare for a year to pass without an infection of West Nile or EEE, which is both more rare and more deadly than West Nile, Brown said.

[pipi_k]

1. Bats!!!

When we first moved out here to the woods in 1996, and for a couple of years after, the place was so infested with mosquitoes that it was almost impossible to be outside without being eaten alive

Once the bat houses went up, they attracted bats. And the bats ate the mosquitoes. So now each spring we might have a couple of days right after they hatch where the mosquitoes are bothersome, but the bats soon make short work of them, and keep the yard nearly pest free the whole summer

Anyone interested in natural mosquito control can learn how to do it by looking for Bat Conservation International