I have participated in No Mow May for three years now. I also have a spot in the yard I let be free (weeded it for invasives) for the same amount of time.

This summer, for the first time since I have lived here, exsists an abundance of fireflys in my yard. They are everywhere, in a way I've never seen since I was a child.

No Mow May, (even if just a part of your yard) gives insects a place. Bugs live in the leaves and natural debris, by keeping it undisturbed, from fall to winter is important for many bugs' survival.

If you like bugs, consider dedicating space in your yard for them to live. Don't keep grass in the typical american perfect lawn way. I suggest not to spray, and look at native grasses and plants first when seeking your landscaping needs.

I've noticed a real difference this year in my yard. Maybe its some coincidence, I don't know. Either way I'm happy to see lightning bugs again

I moved to Minnesota in the early 2000s and was blown away by all of the fireflies. It was magical. I'll never forget snuggling up with someone and watching the fireflies during a thunder storm.

The decline was unbelievably rapid. The last 6 years I was there I'd maybe see one or two the whole summer. If that.

It's so sad because they're truly wondrous creatures.

Over the weekend I saw an incredible display of the blue Ghost Firefly right up in my face while camping in Pisgah. What a thing. I have been reforming my entire yard to facilitate insects. This year I did have a significant amount of fireflies compared to years past. Things can change and get better. They might not, but we might as well try for good.

You would not believe your eyes if ten fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep

But have you considered that instead of fireflies, we have HOAs that will fine you if you don't fact a perfect lawn?

I saw lightening bugs for the first time in years when I moved to the east coast. I was so excited, I caught some and brought them inside to show my cat (I let them back out of course). Next year, nada. So far this year? Also nada. I even made a point to leave the leaves. 😔

I don't even see butterflies anymore. Sad.

This is kind of wild to me. This year we're seeing more fireflies in my yard than we have in a long time. My husband and I have been commenting on it. At night there's an awesome light show and it's kind of awesome. Whatever is happening in my neighborhood they definitely like!

Hey folks, it's easy. Leave your leaves in the fall. It will take two years of this. The first year they'll nest there the next they'll hatch. I've been doing it for two years and have more. Especially my front yard where I've never seen them before.

Also, the other day I saw one in a spider web and it flashed back when I put my flashlight on it. (Which is really sad lol.) I did it a second time to check and it did it back a second time. Definitely wasn't coincidence. So all the talk about lights on in your house absolutely is true and it probably confuses them. To the best of your ability turn off lights or at least close curtains and blinds. Definitely turn off porch lights.

They're magical. The sounds and sights of a summer evening are truly an enchanting experience. Especially after dealing with a stupidly hot day lol.

One night in ft Gordon we were doing an FTX and we got out there late and set up the tents in the dark, n in a field of tall grass. No sooner than the tents were set up, an intense rainstorm came through and dumped a metric fuckton of rain in 15-20 minutes. And as quickly as it started, it was over. Afterwards there were so many fireflies it looked like a fantasy movie. I had never seen anything like that. I've been all over the world, hell I grew up in Boulder, on of the most beautiful places on earth, but I've never seen anything even close to that. It was absolutely magical. And my kid gets so excited to see 2 or 3 and it makes me want to cry.

GUYS GUYS I CAME BACK TO THIS POST BECAUSE THERE IS A FIREFLY IN MY BEDROOM!!(I rarely see it theese days but it's here now)

Man I feel lucky, there are a ton of lightning bugs in my yard

Pasolini wrote a famous essay in 1975, "The Disappearance of the Fireflies," which, at that time, was already starting to become very noticeable. Of course, the essay was really about capitalism.
Personally, outside my childhood in the countryside, I noticed fireflies in the outskirts of a largish city some 20 years ago, then nothing for a very long time, and then I saw a few when I lived for a brief period of time in a really remote place, like an hour from the nearest highway. No trains anywhere near, too.

Off-topic, but if you don't know Pasolini, I urge you to read his last interview which seems particularly gloomy as it appears to foreshadow his own death just a few hours after.
One memorable quote:

I listen to the politicians – all the politicians – with all their little presumptions and I turn into a mad man as they prove they do not know which country they are talking about, they are as far away as the moon. And together with them there are the men of letters, the sociologists and the experts in any kind of field.

It was only a few, but, I did see some while camping this weekend.

I've been so happy to see them in our yard this year. Enough so that I've stopped clearing brush just in case that's why they're here in such numbers. I haven't seen them like this in a decade or more.

I had wondered why we always seemed to have some fireflies here and it turned out my hatred of raking and leaving the leaves under the bushes helped a lot!

Well at least we’ll still have lightning bugs, right.

Lanternfiles, on the other hand... Oh, wait, oh fuck.

i didnt need to be sad rn

Oddly this year they are really prevalent in my area. In prior years I haven't seen nearly as many.

I'm intentionally avoiding lawn treatments and insecticides this year. I love my yard, but I'm also thinking about switching to clover.