Forum Topic

Drop in Insect Numbers

A friend who is a regular visitor to the Barnes Wetland Centre has been telling me for ages that there is a problem with a drop in insect numbers.So this week there has been a lot about it in the papers and the problems that this may cause us:https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature

Philippa Bond ● 2547d17 Comments

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/17726/Early-stachyurus/DetailsDripping with flowers like catkins from a distance.  If yu find another picture taken further away you will see what I mean.  Stunning in the sunlight.The magnolias are stupendous at the moment - and so of course are the Colombian orchids...  in the Princess of Wales Conservatory - last day tomorrow.

Philippa Bond ● 2522d

I took some photos last week of some lovely hamamelis (witch hazel).  It flowers on bare branches and the one I saw I think was Jelena and the colour ranges from red through orange to  yellow.  There are also a couple of red ones. Another early flowering plant for the bees.

Philippa Bond ● 2524d

This was in November 2018:https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/03/stop-biodiversity-loss-or-we-could-face-our-own-extinction-warns-unhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/22/biodiversity-human-life-un-report-shrinking-species-bumblebees-humanityhttps://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/feb/21/worlds-food-supply-under-severe-threat-from-loss-of-biodiversityToo many pesticides and herbicides..."Two thirds of crop production comes from just nine species..."Don't waste food and think about what you are buying and eating!

Philippa Bond ● 2535d

Phillipa see the Guardian today. Worlds food supply under threat due to lack of biodiversity (UN).

Nicholas Beard ● 2538d

https://www.themercury.com.au/news/world/wallace-bee-8/video/6f0de3ddfa8386fbd7886da5287ddfe2

Philippa Bond ● 2538d

Corr:  Not a sarcococcus but probably a sarcococca confusa!There's a picture here:https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/policies/pesticide-statement

Philippa Bond ● 2540d

Well the waving through with the waiving of checks are bound to cause even more problems together with the loss of environmental regulation.Today looking out of a window I enjoyed watching an enormous bumble bee amongst the bees and bugs enjoying the flowering shrub honeysuckle.  Walking down the street I could smell a flowering shrub and looked to see where it was - I had to walk quite a bit further - it was a daphne odora aureomarginata.  I guess the 'odora' in the name is the give away.Further along there was a sarcococcus - perhaps not as pretty but scented with lovely green leaves and interestingbranch shape.https://twitter.com/brglilly/status/1088390302417776640

Philippa Bond ● 2540d

This is really badly reported.Insects thrive in quite polluted areas and this country was far more polluted than it was 40 50 and 60 years ago.The issue is imports of other insects, fungi and bacterium foreign to this Island.Some is man made by aircraft, some is airborne by climate shifts.The man made issues are simply from slack and lack of enforcement.  Aircraft destined for London are seldom sprayed as is required by other continents.Checks on imports are waived in the need to save time and money.It goes back to Dutch Elm disease and lessons learned are not applied.The Moth that has devastated boxes plants in this part of London. Not dealt with and now out of control. These along have an effect on a raft of native insect species.Indicative of how this whole country is sliding into a third rate myopic state of helplessness

Raymond Havelock ● 2542d

You could grow some wild flowers in your garden.

Keith Iddon ● 2544d

and making sure that we don't lose all our public green spaces. I see that there is a new group of friends for Waterman's Park.  There is a good reason for not spraying everything with insecticide the moment that you see anything creeping, crawling or flying!  Or killing every plant that you consider a weed.  It is racist.  Like the nettle it may be the only place that a particular butterly lays its eggs. Learn something about the stinging nettle here and give it a place if you can eg behind the shed!https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/national-be-nice-to-nettles-week.html

Philippa Bond ● 2544d

A very good justification for maintaining allotments, and encouraging composting, beekeeping, and other activities that foster insect populations.

Tony Smith ● 2545d

Well said Keith Nicholas is getting SO boring with his Armageddon Scenarios.

Robin Dickers ● 2545d

I think you will find that the drop in butterfly numbers was due to the fact that we joined the Common Market in the first place, Nicholas. And if you think I am being a bit silly, you started it.

Keith Iddon ● 2545d

In the late fifties I remember the butterflies everywhere. Especially by railway lines where I used to watch trains. No diesels then only steam was there a connection there. Concreating over front gardens also increases the run off of rain and causes problems for the THAMES.

Nicholas Beard ● 2546d

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/17/where-have-insects-gone-climate-change-population-declineWe used to see lots of butterflies and for the past few summers I've rarely seen any other than cabbage white butterflies.  I remember a photograph I took over 30 years ago of a sheet absolutely plastered in red admirals.  We knew all the types of butterfly or bugs that we found in the garden and if we didn't then we looked them up in a book. We knew their lifecycles (there are several which lay their eggs on nettles).The RSPB suggests that we should not concrete our gardens and deck our gardens so that there are no flowering plants but there is still awful lot of garden clearing that goes on particularly in autumn together with regular trimming by machine so that flowering shrubs never get a chance to flower.

Philippa Bond ● 2546d

There’s been a lot of research that has connected Artificial light pollution with the decline in population of insects.

Philippa Auton ● 2547d

The average person does not care about insects. Post Brexit we will not have worry about this. We can also raise our pollution levels to that of India it has been suggested.

Nicholas Beard ● 2547d