Yesterday was a chilly, drizzly day, one where it was good to stay in the house and putter around, make a grocery list, make some lists to start planning out the upcoming holidays, and listen to my husband yell at the TV while the Cleveland Browns mess up play after play in their football game against the New York Giants. I was inside all day and in the late afternoon, as it was getting dark, I put my coat on and told Todd that I was going for a walk. It wasn't the best weather to be outside but cabin fever was getting the best of me and I needed to get out.
With the weather getting colder the leaves are dropping, covering the lawns and streets. People have been raking their leaves to the street in anticipation of the city trucks coming around and sucking them up to take to the city compost pile. By raking leaves to keep our yards clean and green, we take away habitats for insects.
Do you remember the summer nights many years ago when the lightning bugs dotted the darkness? There were so many! But now fewer lightning bugs show up in the summer because one reason is that homeowners now spend more time raking leaves. Lightning bugs live most of their lives as larva in leaf litter, so if we remove all the leaves and put them by the side of the road, we’ve probably removed all the juvenile lightning bugs from our yard. Also, fewer lightning bugs are observed due to a combination of drought conditions and along with a lack of leaf litter, that impacts their multi-year life cycle during the egg and larva stages. If there is not enough moisture, firefly eggs and larva are susceptible to drying up. The leaf layer provides a critical, moist environment and shelter during the fall, winter and spring months. Removing the leaves as yard waste, the firefly larvae lose their protective habitat and are carted away with the debris.
The balance between to rake or not to rake, humans and nature is a thin line.
Although we do rake leaves from our grass there are still loads left all over the garden, which we leave over winter. We don't have fireflies here but I expect there are many other creatures living in amongst our untidy debris.
ReplyDeleteI put leaves over my gardens, too, and yes other insects and creatures take shelter in the fallen leaves.
DeleteThe entire concept of a grass lawn should be rethought. The chemicals and resources devoted to growing a patch of green, could feed the world.
ReplyDeleteTotally, totally agree and would certainly help the balance of nature.
DeleteI do remember nights sitting outside and counting the fireflies. It's one of the things I missed moving to Arizona. Then a friend who lives in Illinois told me they are very rare these days back there. Nothing like when we were kids.
ReplyDeleteA very thoughtful post. Little general raking goes on here plus we're surrounded by wilderness. Fireflies (we called them lightning bugs) are another treasured memory from my Indiana childhood. I'm sad to know they have diminished.
ReplyDelete