surely this cold wet weather we are getting nearly all summer must be affecting the insects as i normally have loads of insect photos by now and i find i have very few..so i was wondering how it would affect them ???long term..

A number of insects particularly butterflies and moths are thought to be low in number this year because of the wash-out summer last year. Cold, wet weather can be bad news for a lot of insects particularly if it is prolongued but I suspect most will quickly bounce back. I haven't noticed many insects at all until today and now they are all knds out including hoverflies and butterflies. Up here the "peak" in insects such as butterflies tends to be around September time so there is plenty of time left yet for them to emerge.

If you want to help insects, try placing an insect house in your garden. This provides shelter for various insects during cold spells as most of their natural hide outs such as crevices in old trees will have been destroyed. Log piles and open compost heaps also provide valuable shelter for insects including predatory beetles which will help keep things such as slugs under control. Also if you have room, consider leaving a part of the garden "untidy" as this provides additional shelter.

I find that, when its hot and humid, just before a storm, theres these tiny long bugs that crawl on my skin, i wonder what their real name is? some people say thunderbugs lol....

On topic, I have noticed a big decline of Bumble Bees and wasps over the last 3 years, hope they are ok.