Mother Nature's Sound and Light Show

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/lightning-profile/

Last night our after-dinner show was watching the coast guard practice night-time rescue manoeuvres -- well at least I assume that is what they were doing raising and lowering a man into a motor boat offshore in the dark.  No I don't think this was nighttime sandbar volleyball - although we did see beach volleyball played on a sandbar in the middle of John's Pass waterway last week (with boats parked all around the field of play).   I am pleased to say the coastguard looked very competent although mini me and I hope we never have to avail ourselves of their services.

Then the May swarm of  'Love Bugs' came for a visit.  We understand they will return in September but thankfully they neither sting nor bite and only stay for a matter of  weeks.  According to the website About.com Insects:

First, a mating swarm of males, 40 or more in number, takes to the air. Sperm-seeking females fly into the swarm, where they are quickly grasped by partners and whisked off to a more romantic setting in the vegetation. After mating, the pair remains entwined, and together they head off on a honeymoon of sorts, feeding on nectar and choosing a site for oviposition of the couple's fertilized eggs.  At times, the mating Florida lovebugs become so abundant in an area that they become a serious traffic hazard.



Source:  Debra Young at http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/lovebug.htm

A pair (or two) of Love Bugs is kinda cute, but a swarm is a menace!  Poor mini me was a bit overwhelmed by these swarming bug pairs.  Wait until she meets a palmetto bug!

And now as I write this on the 13th May, we are having a magnificent thunder and lightening show off the coast; first time I recall seeing lightening travel upward and sideways.  It is pretty spectacular.  My point and shoot camera doesn't capture it, but I found a National Geographic photo above that will give you a pretty good idea.  Mini me has taken cover in a suitcase.

Our temperatures have been averaging 32 C or about 90 F for my US friends. A thunderstorm is a welcome bit of cool breeze here, not a damp chill as it often is in the UK.  So what to do to stay safe in a thunderstorm??  Read a scary book (or write a blog) me thinks as you should:
1.  stay inside and away from windows and concrete
2.  stay out of water - swimming pools and bathtubs/showers
3.  don't touch electrical goods nor landlines

What then wonders mini me are the people we can now see on the beach with torches/flashlights doing?  It seems a bit early for the turtle watch -- which runs from 9 pm to 2 am every night now until October.  We have mainly loggerhead turtles with an occasional green sea turtle or a Kemp's Ridley according to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.   Once the eggs are laid the female never returns to the nest and hence the eggs/hatchlings are vulnerable to sea birds and other animals that see the baby turtles a tasty snack.  So there are daily patrols to identify nests and then protect them.  The first turtle nest of the season was spotted 9 May just north of us so mini me is planning an outing to go and spot it; babies could hatch anytime from July.

And if you are wondering . . . the glorious sunsets I have been posting don't happen every evening - I would say about 50-60% of the time.