Summer nights undisturbed Click a picture to highlight it. Click blue text to open links
In the country too
PreviouslyThis unscreened door and window experience is so different from what used to happen. Unwanted night visitors would burst in towards the lights in such numbers that we had to hurriedly close all doors and windows. The rooms got hot and stuffy. Relief came when we went to bed, switched off the lights and opened some windows. At the bach, just two years ago, our son in law fitted a fly screen to the toilet window so that it could ventilate but keep the moths and other creatures out. When the toilet light was on they banged at the screen desperate to get in. But not this year. WorryShould I worry about having lovely uninterrupted-by-insect summer nights? I think so! That there is deep concern among scientists about the decline world wide in insect numbers, I've previously noted in this blog – very particularly about two years ago. And these summer nights have redrawn my attention to it. My worry is not just about the decline. My worry is that I'm not seeing much thought from countries, or their politicians and other leaders, about the decline – but Germany is an exception. An appeal
'Dr Painting said a decline in insects could mean "big trouble" for humans because they were crucial to agriculture and healthy ecosystems. 'Insect pollinators were needed for growing crops, to keep our forests healthy, and insects were the main food source for many of our native fish and birds, she said. 'New Zealand is thought to have about 20,000 insect species, but only about half are known to science (or described). '"We don't really know what's happening to our insect populations ... we really lack long-term monitoring data to comment suitably. We need to figure out what's actually going on here, and how complex that problem might be."' More effort neededClearly, according to Chrissie Painting and her colleagues, New Zealand and most other countries need to give more money and more effort to finding out about their insects and looking after them. She wants to phase out pesticides, She wants to use street and other night lights that don't attrack and kill insects. They exist apparently. She wants 'insect conservation areas' and, as we might expect, she and her colleagues are earnest advocates of measures like greenhouse gas emission control and reversing agriculture intensification. But I love the insect free summer eveningsI suspect however that most of us love the insect free summer evenings. I don't think many of us are yet knowingly impacted by insect loss or decline and so we are not inclined to urge our leaders to give priority to saving insects. Yet we need to try, even though they are preocupied with all the manifestations of Covid-19. Legislators in democracies at least say that they like to hear from constituents. So let them hear. And as a personal step, we can, although this seems paltry, make our own patios and gardens safe havens for insects. Birds will like that even if no one else does. Live and let live. Tolerate pests for the sake of the planet. They are part of the food chain and the food chain is vital. □ John McInnes Friday 28 January 2022 A tailpiece! In the course of researching this topic I came across Olly Hills who as a 10 year old boy wrote the book Cicadas of New Zealand a field guide for New Zealand cicadas. Then as a 12 year old he gave a TEDX talk. It's short, appealing, funny and informative. To hear it click here. ##########
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