Insect population collapse and why it matters now

Bird populations here and elsewhere have been halved during our lifetimes, with a 40% decline in the last decade alone.

Richard Collins: "During childhood visits to my uncle’s farm, the chirping of grasshoppers filled the summer air "in the bee-loud glade", while the squashed remains of crane-flies beetles and moths dotted the car windscreen."

One cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow — Richard Francis Burton

The early bird catches the worm. But there has to be a worm to catch. Thankfully, creepy-crawlies are still plentiful in Irish soils but, alas, the same can’t be said of flying insects.