#Ourworldisworthsaving - Part 9 - Breathtaking Brilliant Bugs and other assorted Insects
This title is a hashtag that I picked up on Twitter that I first saw from a fellow naturalist, @Britnatureguide
It dawned on me that posting a selection of 4 photos once a day with this hashtag on twitter was an excellent way to engage the public with what we have in our countryside and thus what we also have to lose with thoughtless, profit driven developments and intensive farming the main culprits for endangering our wildlife. Other factors for decline incude poor management and neglect of the environment. For example, mowing road verges before wildflowers set seed; leaving cuttings behind that enrich the soil and favour thuggish species sich as nettles and hogweed; undergrazing or neglect allowing scrub to grow and outcompete rarer wildflowers such as orchids and gentians; overgrazing, leading to no plants setting seed; and so it goes on. Add to the above climate change, drought; flood, nitrogen deposition, eutrophication of freshwater and more, and it seems inevitable that we are going to destroy many species to the point of extinction, both here and worldwide.
I have not just included rarities in my selection. Common species are declining so fast that in a generation they will be under threat as well, we need to start appreciating and valuing all species.
Change is the only way this will be slowed or stopped and awareness is the beginning of change. I hope I can contribute to this awareness with these posts and my blogs. The intention is not to write about each species, but to let the photo do the talking.
As such, the following is a selection in sets of 20 of bugs, and assorted insects that I have photographed over the last 5 years. I hope you enjoy the selection and that if nothing else, it makes you think a bit more about the environment. I have split this into a series of blogs in order to best showcase each type of life form, this is the final part.
It dawned on me that posting a selection of 4 photos once a day with this hashtag on twitter was an excellent way to engage the public with what we have in our countryside and thus what we also have to lose with thoughtless, profit driven developments and intensive farming the main culprits for endangering our wildlife. Other factors for decline incude poor management and neglect of the environment. For example, mowing road verges before wildflowers set seed; leaving cuttings behind that enrich the soil and favour thuggish species sich as nettles and hogweed; undergrazing or neglect allowing scrub to grow and outcompete rarer wildflowers such as orchids and gentians; overgrazing, leading to no plants setting seed; and so it goes on. Add to the above climate change, drought; flood, nitrogen deposition, eutrophication of freshwater and more, and it seems inevitable that we are going to destroy many species to the point of extinction, both here and worldwide.
I have not just included rarities in my selection. Common species are declining so fast that in a generation they will be under threat as well, we need to start appreciating and valuing all species.
Change is the only way this will be slowed or stopped and awareness is the beginning of change. I hope I can contribute to this awareness with these posts and my blogs. The intention is not to write about each species, but to let the photo do the talking.
As such, the following is a selection in sets of 20 of bugs, and assorted insects that I have photographed over the last 5 years. I hope you enjoy the selection and that if nothing else, it makes you think a bit more about the environment. I have split this into a series of blogs in order to best showcase each type of life form, this is the final part.
Bugs, Grasshoppers, Crickets and Flies
1. Rambur's Pied Shieldbug
2. Tortoise Shieldbug
3. Denticulate Leatherbug
4. Gorse Shieldbug
7. Bishop's Mitre Shieldbug
8. Cabbage or Crucifer Shieldbug (both sexes)
11. Four Spotted Orb Weaver (on my hand)
12. Wasp Spider
13. Great Green Bush Cricket
14. Roesel's Bush Cricket
15. Meadow Grasshopper
16. Tiger Cranefly
17. Scorpion Fly (harmless)
18. A Funnel Spider
19. Weevil - Curculio venosus
20. Crab Spider
This was the last in my series of our world is worth saving blogs. I have tried to show you a good cross section of the wildlife that I have come across in the recent few years that I have been into botany. Go out into your local area and see what wildlife you can find, both flora and fauna; admire it; be fascinated by it, but above all, do your best to then conserve and protect it from destruction, development or death by neglect.
2. Tortoise Shieldbug
3. Denticulate Leatherbug
4. Gorse Shieldbug
5. Potato Capsid Bug
6. Birch Shieldbug (final instar) followed by adult form
7. Bishop's Mitre Shieldbug
8. Cabbage or Crucifer Shieldbug (both sexes)
9. Mayfly
10. Bee Fly
12. Wasp Spider
13. Great Green Bush Cricket
15. Meadow Grasshopper
19. Weevil - Curculio venosus
20. Crab Spider
Of course, there are far more species in the UK than those
featured but I hope those shown inspire you to appreciate the beauty of
nature and spread the word for conservation.
This was the last in my series of our world is worth saving blogs. I have tried to show you a good cross section of the wildlife that I have come across in the recent few years that I have been into botany. Go out into your local area and see what wildlife you can find, both flora and fauna; admire it; be fascinated by it, but above all, do your best to then conserve and protect it from destruction, development or death by neglect.
Take care
Dave
@Barbus59
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