My favourite writer, Czesław Miłosz, remarked how rich the nature was in Lithuania during 1920ies and 30ies (back then, not much changed there since the middle ages), compared to him living in Berkeley later. He wrote that the instect life was particularly impressive and you could have a wall of your house covered by a scum-like layer of various insects. My grandmother, who lived back then in similar conditions, said the same - there could be so many instects that it looked as if the whole wall was moving.