It appears that 2024 will be the year when the absence of insects in the countryside, and notably in gardens, becomes most apparent.
This is not a local phenomenon; it is estimated that worldwide insect populations may have decreased by approximately 75% during the past 50 years, however caution should be exercised when interpreting any of these numbers due to various factors.
Surveys have taken place in developed countries and a lot of them indicate a worrying loss of insects but information is hard to come by in many parts of the world where facilities to employ research into the subject simply do not exist.
In 2004 a rather novel survey was started in England whereby the number of squashed insects found on the numberplate of vehicles was noted and collated; a drop of 78 per cent has been recorded up to 2023.
This is just one of a number of surveys carried out throughout the UK targeted at various species including birds, bats, butterflies, bees and moths.
Taken together they show a decline of all species of 1-2 per cent annually.
A lot of the reasons are well known such as the effects of intensive farming, use of pesticides and insecticides, veterinary drugs, light pollution and loss of habitats (wildflower meadows have declined by 97 per cent since the end of the Second World War.
The changing climate is also having an effect insomuch as seasonal plant flowering times and insect emergence times are out of sync although this may adjust itself in time.
This year, on the Island, young bats have been found to be under-nourished due to a lack of insects at the right time.
A decline in insect eating bird species such as spotted flycatchers and cuckoos for example has been very noticeable for many years.
Butterflies have had the worst year since 2002 compounded by a wet and cold spring although, surprisingly and exceptionally, the Island's iconic species, the Glanville Fritillary, has had a reasonable year.
The annual Big Butterfly Count run by Butterfly Conservation had the lowest ever numbers recorded in the 14 years it has been running.
The major concern is, without doubt, the lack of bee species; bees of all types are essential for the pollination of most of the plants found in the world which includes, of course, those that are for human consumption.
Overall, the situation is not good although it is worth remembering that the changing climate is something which has been happening over a long time; it is the human effect on the world that will be difficult to rectify.