Walking in England’s New Forest in 1892, butterfly collector S. G. Castle Russell encountered such numbers of the insects that they “were so thick that I could hardly see ahead”. On another occasion, he “captured a hundred purple hairstreaks” with two sweeps of his net. Patrick Barkham, who recounts these riots of nature in his 2010 book on […]
I have the opposite experience. I’ve seen more aquatic insects (am fly fisherman) and started photographing them. Also more fly catchers, kingfishers, wild turkeys, mink, beaver, muskrat, osprey, bald eagles. I’ve been an outdoorsman (everything but hunting) for thirty years. Maybe it depends on your location?