Why are insects in danger and how can we help?

Originally featured on the blog 'Nature's Good News' (21/03/2019)

If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos. - E.O. Wilson 

It has been hard to read the news lately without hearing about impending catastrophe facing the planet as a result of declining insect numbers the world over. Habitat fragmentation, overuse of pesticides, pollution, global warming, and other pressures could apparently lead to the disappearance of insects within the next 100 years, and along with them would go the vital services which they provide humanity, our 'life support systems'.  So how alarmed should we be, and what can we do about it? Read on to find out the facts behind the headlines and what you can do in your lives to help out our struggling insects. 

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Life as a Skokholm Island Volunteer : Part 3

Originally featured on the blog 'Nature's Good News' (19/10/2019)

It was with a heavy heart that I left Skokholm Island at the start of the month, and I still feel at a loss now I’m back on the mainland. They call it ‘Dream Island’ for a reason, and I couldn’t have imagined before I arrived how true this is. You might think it would get dull spending 3 months on an island just a mile long and half a mile wide, but it still remained just as fresh and exciting on the last day as it had the first. It’s a combination of being surrounded by the ever changing and sometimes raging Celtic Sea, in blissful self-imposed isolation from the troubles of the world, living simply and appreciating the rhythms of nature that are so often missed in day to day life. Being able to see a sky full of stars at night, an endless horizon and the sun rise and set every day, and spending the time with like-minded people who are interested in and care about birds and conservation. Its all of this and so much more, a totally immersive experience, and this last post is about everything else that happened on the island besides the seabird work.

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Life as a Skokholm Island Volunteer : Part 2

Originally featured on the blog 'Nature's Good News' (15/09/2019)

It has been almost 2 months since my last post about my experiences working on Skokholm and the time has flown by. Summer has slipped away and the great autumn migration is now fully underway! The seabirds have slowly left us, although the manx shearwaters and storm petrels are still around for now, and watching the island change through the seasons has been one of the joys of living here long term. So much has happened it is hard to recount, so I will attempt to review the main projects and monitoring we have been working on.

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