It was so pleasant this evening, sitting out by the firepit with a glass of wine after a delicious meal of grilled Georgian Bay whitefish (thank you, Lepage Fishery of Lafontaine). 

To the west, the sky turned turquoise and peach and mother of pearl; above us birds fluttered; all around, insects hummed. This unusually warm and dry summer continues. 

But there was something missing that tugs at my heartstrings.

I get particularly distressed by cats that are allowed to roam - or cats that have been allowed to go wild (feral). They do not belong in our eco-system and the damage they do to our wildlife is extraordinary. I do make an exception for 'working' cats that are needed to keep rodents out of feed in agricultural situations. But those are only a tiny proportion of the implacable and efficient hunters that we have unleashed upon the landscape. 

Now, a new study in which scientists from University of Georgia and the National Geographic Society put small video cameras on cats has prompted the American Bird Conservancy and the Wildlife Society to conclude that cats are responsible for even more wildlife deaths than was previously thought - more than 4 billion animals a year, of which about 500 million are birds. 

I remember the absolute horror I felt when first confronted with hornworms – huge creatures perched on my tomato plants and chewing so fast you could watch the leaves disappearing. They get their name from the horn-like protuberance at the rear end.