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| Where have all our insects and birds gone? | Where have all our insects and birds gone? |
| (2 months later) | |
| Letters | |
| Thu 23 Nov 2017 18.53 GMT | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 13.16 GMT | |
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| With regard to David Marjot’s letter about lost insects in Surrey (18 November), we too have noticed a sharp decline in insects over the last 10 years in south Wales, but there are no neonicotinoids used in the area. In fact, as he noted in Surrey, spiders were the first to disappear. However, Dakar Pro, a commercial preparation of RoundUp, is sprayed on city pavements to eradicate weeds. Have any other readers had similar experiences?Rosemary MasonSwansea | With regard to David Marjot’s letter about lost insects in Surrey (18 November), we too have noticed a sharp decline in insects over the last 10 years in south Wales, but there are no neonicotinoids used in the area. In fact, as he noted in Surrey, spiders were the first to disappear. However, Dakar Pro, a commercial preparation of RoundUp, is sprayed on city pavements to eradicate weeds. Have any other readers had similar experiences?Rosemary MasonSwansea |
| • I am in need of an answer. We have had the best crop of apples from our (very) old Cox’s Pomona tree in the nearly 50 years we have been here – reason, no insect damage. We have seen almost no wasps: every year we have at least one nest in the loft, garden store, ground, but not this year. We have practically no small birds coming to the bird table – the food I put out goes to the pigeons, the one robin and a few passing tits – where are they all? There have been few hoverflies, few houseflies and no bluebottles. Is it the pesticides, sprayed over the nearby agricultural land, is it the plethora of red kites happily soaring above, or the hornets seen for the first time a couple of years ago? | • I am in need of an answer. We have had the best crop of apples from our (very) old Cox’s Pomona tree in the nearly 50 years we have been here – reason, no insect damage. We have seen almost no wasps: every year we have at least one nest in the loft, garden store, ground, but not this year. We have practically no small birds coming to the bird table – the food I put out goes to the pigeons, the one robin and a few passing tits – where are they all? There have been few hoverflies, few houseflies and no bluebottles. Is it the pesticides, sprayed over the nearby agricultural land, is it the plethora of red kites happily soaring above, or the hornets seen for the first time a couple of years ago? |
| There is a major shift in the insect and bird life happening in leafy Buckinghamshire, beside National Trust land, green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty. If it is happening here, God help the rest of the semi-rural areas. Why have we not read long articles about it? Why is it not on the TV, radio, in newspapers? Where is the TED lecture, the academic research? Why does no one care?Kate PhillipsHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire | There is a major shift in the insect and bird life happening in leafy Buckinghamshire, beside National Trust land, green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty. If it is happening here, God help the rest of the semi-rural areas. Why have we not read long articles about it? Why is it not on the TV, radio, in newspapers? Where is the TED lecture, the academic research? Why does no one care?Kate PhillipsHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire |
| • Thank you to Patrick Barkham for his column on the fate of the chequered skipper, and the role of the Forestry Commission in their removal of old woodland to be replaced by conifers to be harvested (Notebook, 21 November). In my area, spraying to control weeds and bracken is carried on by the Forestry Commission, the RSPB and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, as far as they will reveal, using Azulox and RoundUp on our forest and heath areas. This is combined with the destruction of forest in order to create more heathland, resulting in annihilating known nightingale groves and probable amphibian and reptile havens, let alone any encouragement of butterflies and moths.Eyke ShannonWestleton, Suffolk | • Thank you to Patrick Barkham for his column on the fate of the chequered skipper, and the role of the Forestry Commission in their removal of old woodland to be replaced by conifers to be harvested (Notebook, 21 November). In my area, spraying to control weeds and bracken is carried on by the Forestry Commission, the RSPB and the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, as far as they will reveal, using Azulox and RoundUp on our forest and heath areas. This is combined with the destruction of forest in order to create more heathland, resulting in annihilating known nightingale groves and probable amphibian and reptile havens, let alone any encouragement of butterflies and moths.Eyke ShannonWestleton, Suffolk |
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| Wildlife | |
| Insects | |
| Birds | |
| Animals | |
| Rural affairs | |
| Wales | |
| letters | |
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