[Misc] Where have all the insects gone?

[LamieRobertson]

Mrs Wz has gone away for the weekend and left me with a fly problem. Hundreds of the little f***ers on the Basil and Parsley on the kitchen windowsill and even a big Japanese money plant at the other end of the kitchen has them.

Suggestions ?

And please don't let me down NSC

PS I have two bat boxes under the eaves and nothing in 5 bloody years !

Put the basil etc outside...let the birds have them...surprised u didn’t think of this yourself

 

[Weststander]

Got one of these last summer.........it’s brilliant, especially when people don’t know it’s there and something flies in

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BACKTURE-M...r&qid=1622145019&sprefix=Fly+,aps,169&sr=8-55

Recommended by David Attenborough?

 

[Weststander]

Loss of habitat I guess - same as for many species of birds (loss of habitat for them, plus reduced numbers of insects available to eat) We're starting to get the idea of conservation now - though not on a micro scale I'm afraid. How many gardens are being covered by decking and/or paved - sometimes for parking the ever increasing number of cars, often just to save the 'bother' of mowing and trimming?
My border on one side, for instance, is a big old privet hedge, at least 40 or 50 years old, full of assorted bugs and insects and the odd bird's nest - and I'm being continuously harangued by my neighbour to rip it out and pit up a nice sterile fence so that his garden space is 6 inches or a foot wider (depending how much and how often he trims it.) Mental - some people just don't get the connection between conservation (which somebody else should do, and they're absolutely in favour of it) and their own back gardens.

Never succumb.

I’m in the process of putting up the second of two long sterile fences, but against them mixed native wildlife hedges, pollinator loving perennials and mini meadows, with hedgehog holes created. Also started work on a wildlife pond.

Millions of urban home owners making an effort, adds up to a big difference.

 

[dazzer6666]

Recommended by David Attenborough?

Absolutely. He had one in his tent when filming in the Galapagos.........solar powered, obviously

 

[dazzer6666]

Never succumb.

I’m in the process of putting up the second of two long sterile fences, but against them mixed native wildlife hedges, pollinator loving perennials and mini meadows, with hedgehog holes created. Also started work on a wildlife pond.

Millions of urban home owners making an effort, adds up to a big difference.

....and just for balance given my insect murdering tendencies, our ‘maintenance free’ garden has a load of planters that have had bee bombs and other pollinator-friendly stuff put in them.

 

[LamieRobertson]

....and just for balance given my insect murdering tendencies, our ‘maintenance free’ garden has a load of planters that have had bee bombs and other pollinator-friendly stuff put in them.

Maintenance free gardens should be banned

 

[Petunia]

We have plenty here in BUG. Saw them out for the first time this year a couple of weeks ago.

There is 2 big oak trees at the end of our garden in someone else's property and the bats whizz between them all night picking up insects that stray too far from the foliage. They should be out very soon making the wife nervous

How did it go with the house with the bath/shower issue that you were looking at btw?

 

[jakarta]

Could well be a very delayed Spring? Finally got bees on our Wisteria this week.

Almost cricket weather..

 

[GT49er]

Never succumb.

I’m in the process of putting up the second of two long sterile fences, but against them mixed native wildlife hedges, pollinator loving perennials and mini meadows, with hedgehog holes created. Also started work on a wildlife pond.

Millions of urban home owners making an effort, adds up to a big difference.

Thanks for the moral support!

Apart from not wanting to rip out my hedge, ripping it out would cost between 1 and 2 thousand pounds - money I don't have, The cost of hedge removal and disposing of said hedge commercially at the Council tip is ridiculous these days. Then there's the cost of the hedging plants, hedgehog holes etc. Good for you for doing it though.

It's the millions of home owners that think it's somebody else's job to make the effort that's the problem. Pay £3 a month to adopt a f***ing tiger that won't come in a few thousand miles of you - job done, you're doing your bit for conservation. Some people are unbelievable.

 

[Wardy's twin]

The insect decline has been going on for years. I live in Woodingdean and have lived there for about 60 years (well 58) when i was a kid the gardens had all sorts of diverse insects , sadly many of the species which were common are just not around e.g. ear wigs (not seen one for 30 years), those bugs that used to come out in July evenings and fly around (may bugs? ) and beetles in general. I live in my current house for 33 years , have never used any pesticide. The garden has deliberate wild areas and ponds and bits that are left alone (lots of ivy) and a hedge. One bright spot is that i appear to have a bumble bee nest in my 'slow worm ' pile (modified compost heap).

 

[zefarelly]

Very good point. I suspect industrial use of DDT and agent orange are also in decline so a genuine reduction in insects is unlikely. Nothinh insecty has splatted my windscreen for years.

What I'd like to know, though, in Faversham, where have all the bats gone? This time of year at dusk the sky over my garden would be thick with them. Now, nothing. Not even a Bruce Wayne.

Bats . . .in central Shoreham ( fairly green for a town centre) we had loads this time last year, however, the weather this year has been utter gash . . . . Hopefully we start to see things soon . . . Today is the first warm day this year!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Spooky timing - big piece in the Guardian today about insect numbers decline, and an app so motorists can help scientists study the decline

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...cars-to-study-insect-decline-uk-drivers-urged

 

[Swansman]

"The declines are far from uniform. In some localities, there have been reports of increases in overall insect population, and some types of insects appear to be increasing in abundance across the world."

It's just the way of things

The explanation for loss of car windscreen insect splatter is surely aerodynamics/car design.

Faversham is awash with bees, ants, mozzies and other weird things.

Stand by for NSC's famous 'flying ant day' thread coming to an internet in yoir area, soon

Would still like to know who took our bats, though

... or the slaughter of the environment has resulted in the environment getting slaughtered.

 

[Weststander]

The insect decline has been going on for years. I live in Woodingdean and have lived there for about 60 years (well 58) when i was a kid the gardens had all sorts of diverse insects , sadly many of the species which were common are just not around e.g. ear wigs (not seen one for 30 years), those bugs that used to come out in July evenings and fly around (may bugs? ) and beetles in general. I live in my current house for 33 years , have never used any pesticide. The garden has deliberate wild areas and ponds and bits that are left alone (lots of ivy) and a hedge. One bright spot is that i appear to have a bumble bee nest in my 'slow worm ' pile (modified compost heap).

Does the garden include a variety perennials, biannuals and annuals recommended for insects? 95% of my planting is done with that in mind. Also piles of logs? It makes a huge difference.

 

[zefarelly]

Where have all the insects gone?
Ppf is still around somewhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S9yeVthAUQ

 

[Weststander]

Thanks for the moral support!

Apart from not wanting to rip out my hedge, ripping it out would cost between 1 and 2 thousand pounds - money I don't have, The cost of hedge removal and disposing of said hedge commercially at the Council tip is ridiculous these days. Then there's the cost of the hedging plants, hedgehog holes etc. Good for you for doing it though.

It's the millions of home owners that think it's somebody else's job to make the effort that's the problem. Pay £3 a month to adopt a f***ing tiger that won't come in a few thousand miles of you - job done, you're doing your bit for conservation. Some people are unbelievable.

Although a pen pusher, I like the challenge of hard landscaping and fencing. Almost at the end of closeboard fencing 35m, done to last with concrete posts and gravel boards, but with plenty of wildlife holes incorporated. We have 2 BHCC green waste bins, so over a year I can get away without driving greenery to the tip. Old concrete, chalk and subsoil is taken to the tip in trugs. BHCC site workers aren’t anal about that unlike ESCC and WSCC .... for homeowners, not trade.

I think millions of UK home owners have been doing great things in their gardens, I’ve been kind of following this for 40 years when Dr Chris Baines got the info ball rolling. In the 70’s gardeners zapped anything in sight with a deluge of .... cides, many now banned as they poisoned us too.

Of course some other folk pave and plastic grass everything. I ignore them.

I’ve always given generously to wildlife and animal welfare charities. Using the words of Midge Ure ...no regrets.

 

[spongy]

How did it go with the house with the bath/shower issue that you were looking at btw?

We're undecided yet what to do as we're still in the process of buying the place. Other stuff to do first in there so the kids will either have to start showering or smell.

 

[PeakGull]

This is not a recent problem as there has been a steady decline around the world over a number of years https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50226367 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809 https://www.dw.com/en/munich-study-confirms-severe-decline-in-insect-populations-in-germany/a-51052955

 

[zefarelly]

A lot depends on the weather and where you live. things are slow this year, but our garden has been a hive ( badum tish) of activity in recent weeks

A few years back we went to France for a week, ( remember those heady days) drove down to Le Lac d'Ailette in the Cortina, thing was battered with bugs. modern cars are far more aerodynamic and do deflect a lot more.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

... or the slaughter of the environment has resulted in the environment getting slaughtered.

I agree we have made a mess but we have really improved since the 60s. For example, you can now swim in the Thames (I have done that); in the 60s, gorget it. There are other rivers in the UK that were fish free in the 60s owing to pollution but are now lovely.

Maybe the environment has improved so much we are now inundated with birds and they are eating all the bugs (the opposite of what happened when the madman Mao got the Chinese peasants to shoot birds to keep them off the crops; the crops were eaten by locusts).

I appreciate we have 10 times as many cars as in the 60s, but we at least now have lead free petrol; lead was esimated to be lowering the average IQ of kids in London in the 70s by ten points. And the move to electric is clear.

Yes, it is getting warmer. Yes, we need to stop the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians from burning fossil fuel, mashing up rain forests etc. That's where our attention lies. However we have no traction there, sadly, and no interest.

My missus wasting two litres of hot water to clean the dried food out of a small plastic container she wants to recycle won't bring the insects back.