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Bugs in the system
I read the article on the decline of the insect population [News, October issue] having driven back over the border into Scotland, quite downhearted to be leaving my lifelong refuge and sanctuary at Doxford in northern Northumberland.
I am reminded of long trips with my parents, returning from my aunt’s house in Sunderland in their Ford motorcar. On arriving home, one of the tasks after emptying the car of Stottie cakes, Alnwick Rum and Craster kippers was to clean and polish the car. This was no mean feat, as the bonnet was tattooed with myriad insects firmly affixed to it in their hundreds. They were all kinds of colours, in various shapes and sizes: midges, horseflies, wasps and often bumblebees. But not so on my recent return to Scotland.
My childhood travels were journeys made entirely premotorways and mostly through towns and the countryside. Sadly, now it is almost all dual carriageways or motorways, which provide no visible insect life anywhere – none to be seen on the bonnet or bumper. Where have all the insects gone? The food chainsuffer for this major decline in our insect population.
