The nights of driving in the dusk wiping insects off the windscreen are long gone. There are no insects left it seems. I live on the border or France Switzerland and Germany and every hedge border and road side verge is mown down to the soil. There is no where left for the insects to live. No fields, no verges, no untidy Gardens: we have mowed them all away.
Hello A &K,
Thanks very much for this link which is a shocking piece of research. Even here, we’ve been alarmed by swallow numbers declining this year and have over the last few years gone from several fly papers in the kitchen per annum to deal with flies inside to 1 last year, and this year just 1 with only about 20 small flies caught all year. We get wall to wall Brexit political coverage here, yet I haven’t heard anything about this. This research points to the environment falling off a cliff. We probably deserve what’s coming our way…
best wishes
Julian
I wonder why this ‘news’ is suddenly circulating again? Not that I’m really complaining, but I’m really surprised by how much it is ‘news’ to people, who obviously didn’t pick up on it earlier in the year when the paper was released. It made newspaper headlines back then too. Anyway, it’s habitat loss all the way (in which I include pesticides ruining otherwise perfectly good habitat). The ‘number of bugs squashed on cars’ index is not as useful as it could be, because cars are more aerodynamic than they used to be, so the figures are unnaturally low compared to when the first survey was done. These days flying insects get swept over the car as much as they hit it due to improved design. On the other hand, there are more cars on the road, so total kill is still significant and is quite rightly being raised as a concern. Also the fact that roads cut habitat in two which means you get insects running the gauntlet when they cross.
I read this in the Guardian too. It is terrifying. Insects, amphibians, no-one seems to care. Only news of some cuddly-looking furry animal that may be about to become extinct gets any real attention but the insect loss is far more damaging to too the well being of the planet. I agree with Julian (above) that we are reaping the rewards of our own inaction and probably deserve all we get!
Thanks for posting this Amelia, it is of great concern especially following on from the figures in the recent State of Nature report (see https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2016/sep/21/britain-insect-population). One reason that a fuss has been made now is because, although some may have been aware of the new findings, they were only published, after peer review, on October 18th.
a french garden 
Very worrying…
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The nights of driving in the dusk wiping insects off the windscreen are long gone. There are no insects left it seems. I live on the border or France Switzerland and Germany and every hedge border and road side verge is mown down to the soil. There is no where left for the insects to live. No fields, no verges, no untidy Gardens: we have mowed them all away.
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Hello A &K,
Thanks very much for this link which is a shocking piece of research. Even here, we’ve been alarmed by swallow numbers declining this year and have over the last few years gone from several fly papers in the kitchen per annum to deal with flies inside to 1 last year, and this year just 1 with only about 20 small flies caught all year. We get wall to wall Brexit political coverage here, yet I haven’t heard anything about this. This research points to the environment falling off a cliff. We probably deserve what’s coming our way…
best wishes
Julian
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This is not good. It’ll be hard to get people to understand how dire, most are happy to not have to deal with insects.
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This is the problem. Here I am preaching to the converted. Amelia
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I was just reading about this today. Scary stuff!
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Are you seeing a similar scenario on your side of the Atlantic? Amelia
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Not that I’ve heard.
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I wonder why this ‘news’ is suddenly circulating again? Not that I’m really complaining, but I’m really surprised by how much it is ‘news’ to people, who obviously didn’t pick up on it earlier in the year when the paper was released. It made newspaper headlines back then too. Anyway, it’s habitat loss all the way (in which I include pesticides ruining otherwise perfectly good habitat). The ‘number of bugs squashed on cars’ index is not as useful as it could be, because cars are more aerodynamic than they used to be, so the figures are unnaturally low compared to when the first survey was done. These days flying insects get swept over the car as much as they hit it due to improved design. On the other hand, there are more cars on the road, so total kill is still significant and is quite rightly being raised as a concern. Also the fact that roads cut habitat in two which means you get insects running the gauntlet when they cross.
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No, you are correct it is not news but lasts only seconds in the collective memory and it is once again fresh news on a slow news day. Amelia
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I read this in the Guardian too. It is terrifying. Insects, amphibians, no-one seems to care. Only news of some cuddly-looking furry animal that may be about to become extinct gets any real attention but the insect loss is far more damaging to too the well being of the planet. I agree with Julian (above) that we are reaping the rewards of our own inaction and probably deserve all we get!
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Thanks for posting this Amelia, it is of great concern especially following on from the figures in the recent State of Nature report (see https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2016/sep/21/britain-insect-population). One reason that a fuss has been made now is because, although some may have been aware of the new findings, they were only published, after peer review, on October 18th.
Here are two more contributions to the debate from today’s Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/21/insects-giant-ecosystem-collapsing-human-activity-catastrophe
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/20/insectageddon-farming-catastrophe-climate-breakdown-insect-populations
George Monbiot has suggested some ways forward but how do we achieve these?
Those of us reading Amelia’s blog surely care but how do we as concerned individuals make our feelings felt?
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Thank you for the additional links. Your comment is the crux of the matter – how do concerned individuals make their feelings felt. Amelia
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I read this report too. Very worrying.
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