Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust writes of the decline of insect populations, and the impact on wildlife
Insects are unlikely to rank highly in polls of people’s favourite wild creatures but the rate and scale of the decline in flying insect numbers should be a worry to us all, writes Erin McDaid of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.
While some folk might find insects scary or even consider them disgusting, they are a vital part of the natural ecosystem every creature relies on, including us.
Flying insects –not just bees – play a vital role in pollinating food crops and insects themselves form a key building block in the chain, sustaining many of the creatures that would likely come high up in lists of people’s favourites – including birds like the ever popular robin.
I long remember hearing and sharing anecdotal evidence that the numbers of flying insects were declining based on people’s experience of no longer having to regularly clear their car windscreens of dead insect debris during the summer.
I personally remember a time when even a relatively short car journey in summer would leave your windscreen heavily smeared with squashed insects.
Stops at motorway services during summer journeys usually required time to clean the windscreen. Your front grill and number late were usually liberally peppered with the remains of sadly demised flies, beetles, moths, and other flying insects.
In recent years, this rudimentary and rather gruesome measure of insect numbers has been transformed into robust citizen science by colleagues at Kent Wildlife Trust in partnership with Buglife.
The Bugs Matter survey now gathers data from thousands summer car journeys across the country – providing comparative data to help check populations trends. Sadly, the findings of these ‘splat tests’ make uncomfortable reading.
In 2022 the findings highlighted a decline of around 60% compared with 2004. Such as drop off over two decades was a real sign of trouble, but the data from 2024, based on 25,000 car journeys, suggests that numbers have fallen by over 60% in just the past five years!
When it comes to bad news stories about nature and the environment, terms such as tipping points or spirals of decline are often used to highlight points at which it may be too late to turn back the clock.
Let’s hope that this isn’t what we’re seeing here, but the rate of decline must serve as a wake-up call for us to start mitigating human activities impact on insect numbers such as habitat destruction, pesticides use and air and water pollution.
As we go about our relatively comfortable lives, increasingly disconnected from the natural world, it is all too easy to observe such declines as if they only impact other species.
But we are not immune to the environmental impacts affecting other creatures and our wider environment – we are part of nature, not separate to it.
Pesticides and other chemical pollution is likely to have an impact on our health, and we must increasingly consider whether declines in other species are acting as a ‘bellwether’ or ‘canary in coalmine’ - signalling future impacts on us.
We must do more to ensure that all creatures can continue to thrive. If we do not take heed and act fast, we may find that the natural systems that we rely upon for our food, healthy soil, clean water and clear air start to collapse before our eyes.
One way you can act straight away is by supporting the 2025 Bugs Matter survey which runs until September. For further details and to take part visit buglife.org.uk/get-involved/surveys/bugs-matter/