On a global scale, species are becoming extinct at a faster rate than the dinosaurs did, so we're bound to notice some small changes. Our turn will surely come, and everything that's left will breathe a collective sigh of relief!
Decline of Bees and Butterflies?
- Thread starter FrenchieBoy
- Start date
Reloader708
Well-Known Member
Worryingly lots of species (not just insects) are in serious trouble, ive seen figures of 60-70% reduction mentioned as an average.
The trouble is we quickly forget what should be flying, swimming, crawling in our natural environment and think this is now normal to have no salmon or hedghogs or butterfly's etc.
I sadly read a few months back that the twite or yorkshire finch has been declared extinct but to those who never saw the huge flocks 25+ years since, they wont be missed.
Habitualization to the ever increasing urban environment were creating! ☹
I'll stop there before I'm accused of being a rewinding chris packham supporter.
The trouble is we quickly forget what should be flying, swimming, crawling in our natural environment and think this is now normal to have no salmon or hedghogs or butterfly's etc.
I sadly read a few months back that the twite or yorkshire finch has been declared extinct but to those who never saw the huge flocks 25+ years since, they wont be missed.
Habitualization to the ever increasing urban environment were creating! ☹
I'll stop there before I'm accused of being a rewinding chris packham supporter.
I dont think the Twite is extinct though
Reloader708
Well-Known Member
I've done a bit of research, i think because its not an interesting species there isn't a great deal of information. You are correct it isnt extinct but the numbers are so tiny now, sadly it probably will be in the next few years.
I have said exactly the same to one or two of the wildlife trusts
They are so focused on news worthy releases or reintroductions such as pine marten or sea eagle that they forget about real life. The cost of these fancy projects is astronomical and the money would be far better spent building from the bottom, with habitat creation.
They are so focused on news worthy releases or reintroductions such as pine marten or sea eagle that they forget about real life. The cost of these fancy projects is astronomical and the money would be far better spent building from the bottom, with habitat creation.
Caterpiller feed certainly, but before caterpillers can feed they need to hatch out, so we need to stop destroying egg-laying habitat. Several species of butterfly lay their eggs exclusively on stinging nettles - tortoiseshells, peacocks and red admirals, for example. Gardeners should tolerate areas of nettles and local authorities should stop strimming all green matter into extinction from every roadside bank and verge the moment it emerges in spring.
If your garden is large enough, set aside nettle beds for butterflies. Nettles also make fantastic nitrogen-fixing compost, so when the butterflies have finished with them, scythe then down at the end of the season and add them to the compost heap. And when the young growth emerges, you can pick it yourself and eat it like spinach or make tea.
We need to learn to love nettles instead of waging war on them. And we should make more use of them. They are a kind of super-plant rather than a weed and a species vital to the survival of all sorts of insect life.
My small 20 acres has natural wildflowers all over, not yet as many as I would like its been sprayed for years before I bought it. I draw the line at thistles and docks and either 'top' them before they seed or spot spray with a knapsack sprayer - so we have habitat aplenty (on a small scale). We have noticed very significantly less flies this year - possible a dry cold spring ? We have NO swallows or house martins nesting here, possibly due to low fly numbers ? We have loads of other birds - garden warblers, goldfinches etc. We have a 1 acre lake (very silted) which has wild geese, frogs, toads etc loads of Dragonflies. I have put up wild bee 'Hives' and bug 'hotels' where possible as well as nest boxes. Of the 18 mallard chicks produced in two broods 5 survived out of the second brood - all the first were taken by predators. I sat out for 6 consecutive knights to get the fox cub which appeared (I posted a photo) but nothing appeared.
This is one season - the next will differ, but the lack of flying insects is undoubtedly a problem and as Frenchie says, we have maybe 30 buddleia's but have had fewer visitors this year. This area of S Wales they (buddleia's) grow wild everywhere. Interestingly we have red hot pokers in the garden which are a source of nectar for birds - never seen so many from House Sparrows to Garden warblers taking advantage. A new crop of rabbits has appeared and I have left them alone for a while concentrating of fencing the veg patch.
I would like to do something to increase the insects but the ban on nitrogen fert (nitrogen susceptible zones) in many areas means slurry is injected rather than farmyard muck being spread by open spreader. I am sure this helps aquatic life (as we are close to a river) but it can't be helping flies and insects. Everything has a consequence. I just do my bit since the land is not otherwise farmed. In the hot weather we had fallow and roe coming to the water troughs. Three pheasant broods this year numbers in the 20's More swallows and martins would make it a royal flush.
Sadly we have crows aplenty and the cost in chicken pellets has increased because of quantity taken by 'wildlife' as well as the now inevitable price rises.
This is one season - the next will differ, but the lack of flying insects is undoubtedly a problem and as Frenchie says, we have maybe 30 buddleia's but have had fewer visitors this year. This area of S Wales they (buddleia's) grow wild everywhere. Interestingly we have red hot pokers in the garden which are a source of nectar for birds - never seen so many from House Sparrows to Garden warblers taking advantage. A new crop of rabbits has appeared and I have left them alone for a while concentrating of fencing the veg patch.
I would like to do something to increase the insects but the ban on nitrogen fert (nitrogen susceptible zones) in many areas means slurry is injected rather than farmyard muck being spread by open spreader. I am sure this helps aquatic life (as we are close to a river) but it can't be helping flies and insects. Everything has a consequence. I just do my bit since the land is not otherwise farmed. In the hot weather we had fallow and roe coming to the water troughs. Three pheasant broods this year numbers in the 20's More swallows and martins would make it a royal flush.
Sadly we have crows aplenty and the cost in chicken pellets has increased because of quantity taken by 'wildlife' as well as the now inevitable price rises.
I have noticed a lot of grasshoppers on various grass rich margins, tracks etc. They were noticeable by their absence previously, the hot weather will have something to with it of course but the agri environmental schemes have a bigger part to play. No grasshoppers in arable crops or improved grass.
Definitely seeing more invertebrates (and some lizards, too) in the land I fenced to create my deer park than I used to see in the same fields a few years back when they were managed for sheep grazing.
Where I am in the Scottish highlands there are plenty of all sorts of wildlife and this is in a predominantly arable wheat/ barley and oilseed rape area.
The dog walk on Friday evening had us seeing quite a few peacock butterfly caterpillars around the 6m+ field margins by the burns, plenty butterflies of many sizes and types also.
Yellowhammers galore on the wires by the railway line and behind the big house, treecreepers, wrens chaffinches, reed buntings, warblers, grey and pied wagtails, swallows, martins and a good number of swifts hawking about the last few weeks. The swallows that were in my porch last year have fledged their first brood and are going at the nest again.
A massive "squadron" of tree sparrows in the yard behind the farmhouse. and the burnside is teeming with plant life.
Loads of Bumble bees as well, (we don't see many honey bees now as all the hives that the old lad had up the farm went when he went in to care.)
Winter time we have big flocks of twites and linnets.
Grasshoppers on the other hand have been missing for many years.
The Buddleia is just coming out and there will be plenty of butterflies next week when it starts scenting the air around.
As jal55 said about the money being thrown about by the various trusts and orgs, it would be better spent on smaller projects and habitat creation than any of the photo opportunity soundbites they go for.
If the habitat is there the birds and wildlife will find it. !!!!!!!!!
Most of them (uni jobsworths with not a jot of practical experience) can't see the wood for the trees, a complete shower of Muppets.
Don't start me on the ****ing about they have about the Capercaillie. sort the predators out and improve the habitat and tell joe public to stay the feck out of the woods with fido and the rest of the clan.
Think I read somewhere today that they are going to be taking pine martins from Keilder and relocating them somewhere south. no doubt there will be some sort of grant given to the pen pushers and hangers on for this and some other creature will start declining as the result of this relocation.
So in all its not looking too bad up here where I am in our green and almost pleasant land as the farmer is a decent lad and the jobsworths have been politely told to go elsewhere.!!
Cheers
The dog walk on Friday evening had us seeing quite a few peacock butterfly caterpillars around the 6m+ field margins by the burns, plenty butterflies of many sizes and types also.
Yellowhammers galore on the wires by the railway line and behind the big house, treecreepers, wrens chaffinches, reed buntings, warblers, grey and pied wagtails, swallows, martins and a good number of swifts hawking about the last few weeks. The swallows that were in my porch last year have fledged their first brood and are going at the nest again.
A massive "squadron" of tree sparrows in the yard behind the farmhouse. and the burnside is teeming with plant life.
Loads of Bumble bees as well, (we don't see many honey bees now as all the hives that the old lad had up the farm went when he went in to care.)
Winter time we have big flocks of twites and linnets.
Grasshoppers on the other hand have been missing for many years.
The Buddleia is just coming out and there will be plenty of butterflies next week when it starts scenting the air around.
As jal55 said about the money being thrown about by the various trusts and orgs, it would be better spent on smaller projects and habitat creation than any of the photo opportunity soundbites they go for.
If the habitat is there the birds and wildlife will find it. !!!!!!!!!
Most of them (uni jobsworths with not a jot of practical experience) can't see the wood for the trees, a complete shower of Muppets.
Don't start me on the ****ing about they have about the Capercaillie. sort the predators out and improve the habitat and tell joe public to stay the feck out of the woods with fido and the rest of the clan.
Think I read somewhere today that they are going to be taking pine martins from Keilder and relocating them somewhere south. no doubt there will be some sort of grant given to the pen pushers and hangers on for this and some other creature will start declining as the result of this relocation.
So in all its not looking too bad up here where I am in our green and almost pleasant land as the farmer is a decent lad and the jobsworths have been politely told to go elsewhere.!!
Cheers
Good post - yes they are on about introducing martens to devon - O have been on their instagram site and questioned it . They have asked me if they can call me to discuss and have taken my posts down. Have a look on there
What Instagram page is that?
The recovery of ecosystems is remarkable - if the damage is removed. Gardens are often critical wildlife corridors so hard standing or articficail grass is a disaster. The latter should simply not be used, put it in building regs! There is a factor in the pesticides taht are used on pets or in gardens, agins there shou ldbe greater restriction
crow killer
Well-Known Member
Absolutely useless this year for butterflies in my part of Cumbria, theres still plenty of nettles and thistles on our land,for feed and caterpillars very very concerning, also hardly any swifts and only 1 pair of swallows on the farm, theres room for many more pairs,
One thought among some of the local beekeepers, originally in relation to wasp numbers, is that the warm spring followed by late frosts may have had a significant impact this year. Early warmth encouraging queen wasps etc.. to emerge before the late frosts killed off a lot of them, resulting in less wasps and presumably other insects this summer. If this is an influencing factor then we should expect a reduced number of insects for a few years yet.
I think it’s also worth noting that wasps are persecuted yet also pollinate and help - I often think it’s a shame when a wasps bike is destroyed without good reason.
I can understand one on or in the house but up the back of the garden I can’t see why they bother them.
I can understand one on or in the house but up the back of the garden I can’t see why they bother them.
Phil fox man
Well-Known Member
last week on one of our daily route's while sat at the "sitting tree "the wife said what's that behind you.a swarm of bee's on a low hanging branch! so when we got home I rang my mates dad " bob the bee man".
he came out with his bee kit and dropped them into a box,saying he would be back later when they were all asleep.all collected and gone and a large jar of honey for me
he came out with his bee kit and dropped them into a box,saying he would be back later when they were all asleep.all collected and gone and a large jar of honey for me
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