Sanctuary

Lack of bugs may be drought, (...) By now myriad bees and exotic flies should be sipping nectar from wildflowers. Wasps, (...) , dragonflies and spiders should be prowling the landscape looking for dinner.

Where are these creatures and the critters that eat them?

There might be a normal population of insects and spiders in some areas, especially in cities and towns where lawns and gardens were watered during last summer's record drought. But there's a very obvious shortage of insects, spiders and lizards on our rural place.

Only two or three honeybees can be seen in 6-foot-square sections of Indian blanket wildflowers here. In a normal year, the count would be much higher. Bluebonnets require insects to pollinate their flowers, so I examined four patches of bluebonnets on our place. Only 53 per cent of their flower s