'Butterfly Emergency' Declared as UK Summer Count Hits Record Low (theguardian.com) 40
A national "butterfly emergency" has been declared by Butterfly Conservation after the lowest Big Butterfly Count since records began. From a report: An average of just seven butterflies per 15-minute count were recorded by participants in this summer's butterfly count, the lowest in the survey's 14-year history. It was the worst year on record for once-ubiquitous species, including the common blue, small tortoiseshell, small white and green-veined white. Eight out of the 10 most-seen species have declined -- in many cases dramatically -- over the count's history. Previous lowest-ever numbers of butterflies-per-count were logged in 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Butterfly Conservation is calling for the government to declare a "nature emergency" and ban insect-killing neonicotinoid pesticides, with no exceptions. Britain and the EU banned neonicotinoids in 2018 but the UK government has authorised an exemption for the pesticides to be used on sugar beet every year since 2021. Before the election, Labour promised to ban all neonicotinoids. Further reading: UK Nature Chief Sounds Alarm Over Ecosystem Collapse as Butterfly Numbers Halve.
Butterfly Conservation is calling for the government to declare a "nature emergency" and ban insect-killing neonicotinoid pesticides, with no exceptions. Britain and the EU banned neonicotinoids in 2018 but the UK government has authorised an exemption for the pesticides to be used on sugar beet every year since 2021. Before the election, Labour promised to ban all neonicotinoids. Further reading: UK Nature Chief Sounds Alarm Over Ecosystem Collapse as Butterfly Numbers Halve.
Anecdotally Australia (Score:4, Informative)
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Same here.
In Queensland bugs used to be so bad around lights you would turn them off.
Now I hardly ever see a bug... plenty of flies in summer though!
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Here (south-west Netherlands), I've noticed a decline in birds and insects over the last two decades (mornings are relatively quiet now).
Even mosquitos, while any is still too many.
It's mostly farmland around here, not nature. The colour is green, but that's all there is to it. So few places with wildflowers that I haven't seen a bee in years.
Re: Anecdotally Australia (Score:2)
At least in the UK we donâ(TM)t really have bugs that eat houses, so we donâ(TM)t tend to do regular pest control on them. Here at least Iâ(TM)d think the culprit would be farmers and a billion tons of insecticides spread all over crops.
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I noticed much the same thing, in terms of insect guts on the windshield. But I wasn't sure if it was less insects or better aerodynamics.
habitat destruction (Score:4, Interesting)
There's little doubt that pesticides are taking their toll, but habitat destruction is every bit as bad.
At least you can stop using pesticides, altough, as usual, the chemical industry is excellent at getting government to sell out the environment and cheaply.
The problem with habitat destruction is it's very difficult to undo. What do you do about recovering fields when there's now a subdivision there ?
One way is to educate people to make their yards insect friendly, starting with not using pesticides, and to try and make it habitat.
Gardens, and I mean food gardens, seem to be excellent habitat. I see bugs that I've never seen before hanging around when tomatoes or brocollini or some other plant in the garden is blooming.
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One way is to educate people to make their yards insect friendly, starting with not using pesticides, and to try and make it habitat.
I'd be fine if we were only talking the harmless sort of bugs that prefer to stay outside in the yard. However, here in Florida if you don't go scorched earth with the pesticides, your house is soon to be infested with all manner of crawly bitey stingy things. Also, we've got a particularly large sort of flying roach, which usually surprises people unaccustomed to seeing something that looks like it belongs in a horror flick. [reddit.com]
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What do you do about recovering fields when there's now a subdivision there ?
If there were fewer people there wouldn't be a need to pave over fields and other open spaces.
Re:Butterflies vs. food (Score:4, Informative)
England's economy is in a tail spin and they'll be in worse shit if they did away with insecticide. They'll have to import even more food, as crop yields will collapse.
The entire EU banned the insecticide being talked about here and crop yields barely changed. Who wrote your talking points for you?
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Even if that's true (hint: it isn't - references: https://www.seedworld.com/euro... [seedworld.com] and https://growingmatters.org/wp-... [growingmatters.org] ), anyway .. even if your lies were true .. do you really think they would stop at neonicotinoids? Guaranteed they'll ban whatever replaced it too.
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From your own sources it's down single digit percentages. If that's your definition of collapse I wonder what you would do if it hit 10%? Run out into the street naked screaming "THE END IS NEIGH!!!"
Your post and your talking points are alarmist ignorance bordering on shilling. The farming industry in Europe hasn't experienced any meaningful downturn - far less than the impact of flooding and drought in certain regions, and neither has the industry's economic output.
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England's economy is in a tail spin and they'll be in worse shit if they did away with insecticide. They'll have to import even more food, as crop yields will collapse.
The entire EU banned the insecticide being talked about here and crop yields barely changed. Who wrote your talking points for you?
He's not wrong about the UK's economy, a bit of hyperbole but its in the doldrums. He is wrong about why. The UK's economy is in the shitter, pointlessly bobbing about like a stubborn turd that just wont flush but that is due to Brexit and the complete morons who were trying to implement it for the last 5 years. The morons are gone, but Brexit remains unfortunately.
Re:Butterflies vs. food (Score:4, Informative)
Neonicotinoids aren't the only pesticides.
Also, the timing of the spraying makes a big difference.
If you spray when the crop is blooming, you'll kill bees and butterflies.
If you spray a week earlier, you kill only the pests.
Britain != England (Score:2)
Since you don't even know that I think we can safely ignore anything other supposed insights you fart out of your backside.
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UK growth is positive and is doing better than many EU countries right now. Weird definition of a 'tailspin'.
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It was, but then 20% of the electorate (33% of the people who bothered to vote) elected a Labour government, and growth is back down to 0%.
I'm sure they say it's early days, (all the Conservatives' fault, etc.)...
Particularly worrying given that they said they would pay for everything by growing the economy.
Remember when we were kids (Score:2)
There's been a mass die off of insects in the last several decades that we've all just kind of been ignoring. There is a variety of reasons for it and none of them good.
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Notice how you don't have to do that anymore?
No shortage of bugs here in Florida. In fact, with all the rain we've been having recently the mosquitos chewed me up pretty good while I was walking from my car to the grocery store, because I made the mistake of going out right at sunset.
Re: Remember when we were kids (Score:2)
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Germans have noticed a collapse in insect populations in biological reserves for a while.
https://www.science.org/content/article/germany-s-insects-are-disappearing
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_in_insect_populations
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I think that is due to improved aerodynamics of cars?
While I still get a fair number of bugs hitting the windshield, very few are butterflies. Indeed, it seems alomst like they use my care as a boost. Quite a few times I've had one swoop in front of the care, get caught in the near field, and I look in the rear view mirror and they are still flying, only 15 feet higher.
And while on the Cape May Ferry that traverses the 20 some miles across the Delaware Bay, I've seen Monarchs catching a draft the whole way from Cape May to Lewes Delaware on their westward
Re: Remember when we were kids (Score:2)
Anecdotal, but the last two years have seen an uptick in bug guts on the windshield here in Texas to the point where the windshield now needs a proper scrubbing every two weeks. 30mi daily commute for the past 5 years.
Evolved to fly higher? (Score:2)
Its admittedly rather tenuous, but when millions, perhaps billions of insects are killed by vehicles every year natural selection for those that fly slightly higher up (and yes, risk getting eaten by birds) will be intense.
Butterlfies are Annoyed (Score:2)
Listen. I'm no butterfly, but if I were, I'd avoid these people at all costs. Sometimes I'd totally be a flower, sometimes I'd just fly by.
I don't speak for all butterflies, but, Leave Us Alone!
--
Thank you for leaving us alone but giving us enough attention to boost our egos. - Mick Jagger
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some people just don't realize that a tornado in australia might produce a butterfly wing flapping in uk several weeks later.
Ain't Brexit great? (Score:4, Informative)
the UK government has authorised an exemption for the pesticides to be used on sugar beet every year since 2021
They took control of their country back and made it worse.
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Derogation for coated seed has only partly stopped in the EU too.
https://www.pan-europe.info/bl... [pan-europe.info]
Mass agriculture (Score:3)
This is happening in many places. The problem is a combination of three things:
- Monoculture in huge fields, leaving no plants that insects can use as a food source.
- Herbicides that kill off any "weeds" that could have fed the insects. With wind drift, these are killed off even in borders and in areas outside the fields.
- Insecticides (obviously) that kill the insects directly.
All of this comes down to: mass agriculture. We want cheap food, and mass agriculture with lots of chemicals is how it is produced.
RoundUp Readt (r)(c)(tm) butterflies (Score:2)
Buy them before it is too late!
Coincidence? (Score:2)
Came across this guy [imgur.com]. Might be appropriate for this story.
non-doom comment (Score:4, Interesting)
Their favorite food is Milkweed, which also makes them taste bad to predators. So when a predator sees the bright orange and black, they LWA.
So people started planting milkweed in gardens and even alongside roads in the woods. There are natural gas pipelines buried and running along alongside many of the backroads here, and they are now full of milkweed, providing a sort of interstate for the Monarchs. Apparently a number of people dispersed the seeds while taking a drive.
I've seen twice as many butterflies this year (Score:2)
"Butterfly Emergency" (Score:1)
I know this is a serious matter, but it sounds like the title of an anime series when they call it this.
Bees!!! (Score:2)
What happened to the "bee emergency"? I haven't heard that mentioned in a year or two. Did something change?