It was a pretty low-key day of bug counting and spider catching today, except for one complication: black flies.  They are out in full force!

The only thing we had to do in the field today was catching spiders, this time at Hel, the lake with no midges.  However, Hel is notorious for large numbers of black flies.  We dressed accordingly.

Bring it, black flies

But the black flies weren't actually that bad.  By not that bad I mean that my makeshift gear was enough to block them and the head nets we brought were not needed.  Besides that, we had to care for the fruit fly maggots we feed to the spiders.  The flies lay their eggs in a dish of molasses and agar (a gelatin-like substance), and we can pick the maggots off that dish.  The problem was that molasses-agar mixture had been in the freezer all week, and the standard maggot-feeding procedure called for a hot water bath to melt it.  So we had to improvise with the research station's kitchen.

Tomorrow I get to go out on the boat and help with some of the aquatic projects!