Tag: insects

Understanding UK Insect Decline and Extinctions: A Government Briefing

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Hopefully we’ve largely moved past the kneejerk reaction to insects that were common not that long ago – “Ugh” and “Kill it” – and now understand that insects are a critical part of all ecosystems. They are not only beautifully evolved, fascinating animals, but they are – in the words of the charity Buglife – the ‘small things that run the planet‘. They pollinate, break down waste and recycle it, feed a huge number of other insects and a huge number of other animals (from birds and amphibians to fish and mammals). While the rest of life on this planet – as our current lockdown has proved – would get along fine without us, it would quickly fall apart without insects.

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Coul Links development refused

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A positive story for a change – and one that may have gone under many people’s radar : a planned ‘luxury’ golf course development on Coul Links, a beautiful, natural coastal dune system to the immediate south of Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve in East Sutherland, Scotland, has been refused. Why, writes Charlie Moores, was the development turned down so late in the day? Could the government in Scotland understand that the public are just fed up with our most precious places being threatened by developments that benefit so few but whose losses are felt by so many…

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Bumblebees – canaries in the countryside?

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A headline in the UK’s The Guardian this week, stated that “Bumblebees’ decline points to mass extinction”. It was triggered by a report in the journal Science which analysed long-term data for 66 bumblebee species across both North America and Europe and concluded that “increasing frequencies of temperatures that exceed historically observed tolerances help explain widespread bumblebee species decline”. Should that matter, writes Charlie Moores, to us?

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