Bugs that bug us

We wouldn't want anyone to think that living in Spain is perfect. There are downsides. One of those is the abundance of insects.

Pam and I are not anti-insects per se but there definitely some which we would gladly eradicate. Our top five are:
1. The ants which come in all sizes from so tiny you can hardly see them to quite big. They don't cause us a lot of trouble but are almost impossible to get rid of permanently.
2. The wasps which were trying to build a nest in one of the yuccas until I gave them their marching orders. They are definitely nested somewhere in the garden though. They come down to the pool to drink. The clever ones just touch the surface and keep their wings out of the water. When they have finished they then fly off. The dumb ones get stuck and have to be removed (carefully). Pam has been stung by one and so did one of our guests.
3. The crickets cause two problems. They eat the leaves on the plants and they make a damn row when they are rubbing their legs together. When you hear the noise at first you would imagine it is a serious electrical fault. When you find the insect responsible it is hard to believe it can make so much noise. Tolerable in the daytime but not funny if they start making their row at night.
4. The flies which come out in the heat and buzz round you. Presumably they are attracted by the sweat. When you swat them they just circle round and come back. They are cheeky! It is bad enough when they settle on your body but when they persist in buzzing round your face it is really annoying.
5. Mosquitoes. We never got bitten on our holidays on the Costa del Sol. When we were buying the house though we were asked "did we want mosquito nets". Now we know why we need them. I currently have 5 bites and Pam has six or seven and we have nets. The problem is that the insects are so small they are easy to miss. You don't miss them once they have bitten though!!

What I want to know is why do they have to irritate so much. Why can't they just take the drop of blood they need and leave you with a little mark where they have been. The mark would heal up and we'd all be happy. We have special cream which reduces the itching but it still takes a couple of days for the bites to clear.

Mosquitoes are top of our list.

There are other bugs like the dragonflies and the processional caterpillars which are even more undesirable but fortunately they don't come into the garden.

Update:- Spoke too soon - a very large dragonfly appeared by the pool yesterday but fortunatly flew away before Pam saw it. 15th July