Declining insect numbers threatening UK

While food security is something a lot of industry experts and government are concerned about, one way to help ensure we continue to grow food is to increase insect numbers in the UK.

One way to improve long term food security in the UK is to halt the decline of insects.

It might sound like food and insects aren’t related but we rely on a lot of insects to pollinate our crops and declining numbers can mean declining yields.

Politicians want more insects

A House of Commons committee has suggested one of the ways to improve long term food security in the UK is to halt the decline of insects.

The report says: “Land use change, land management practices and pesticide usage are amongst the largest contributing factors to insect decline.

Committee chairman said: “Food security depends on maintaining and improving the biodiversity essential to ecosystems, and so does the much wider environment that we depend on for our lives, livelihoods and wellbeing.”

What can we do to help?

While farming practises need to be improved to protect wildlife, there are things we can all do to make life easier for the winged and legged small creatures of the UK.

No mow May is annually in May but you can do it any time you like or even leave a patch year round in your garden to see what happens with non mowing. You’ll see what insects, birds and mammals you might attract and you’ll see how your patch of grass changes through the seasons. Planting native wild flower seeds will help produce a beautiful feature.

Bees are in decline

Bees are also having an incredibly difficult time. 17 percent of bee species have become extinct in parts of the UK they used to thrive in and that’s bad news for us and entire eco systems.

There are more golf courses in the UK than solar farms and the great thing about solar farms is that entire ecosystems can live alongside them. And avoiding harsh chemicals that kill bees is critical. Many pesticides contain ‘forever’ chemicals that harm many creatures we care about.

We can all do something

Whether it’s a patch of garden or planting insect friendly plants like lavender and fox gloves, there’s plenty we can do to try and encourage winged and webbed creatures into our green spaces more. The National Garden Scheme have plenty of ideas on how you can make your outside space more inviting to those multi legged and winged beasts particularly avoiding pesticides.

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