Insects are buzzing off
I guess the majority of people are inclined to view most insects as nuisances.
They do not like the buzz! We freely aim murderous blows at pestering house-flies, swat frantically at biting insects such as the dreaded midges, which famously plague visitors to Scotland.
And when it comes to wasps, many of us literally flee from their presence, so fearful are we of their stings. Some are equally wary of bees despite the fact that whereas wasps can sting us and live to sting another day, bees in stinging, literally commit instant suicide.
So insects in general do not generally generate interest in most people’s minds, rather they probably leave a pretty high percentage of the human race, ambivalent and even inclined to loathe them!
Creepy-crawlies of the most amazing variety may indeed receive a bad press, yet as much as two thirds of the world’s wildlife is actually made up of … yes you’ve guessed it, the said insects.
Their vital importance in the general scheme of natural life is clear. Without them the ecology of the world would collapse and would quickly become a vast desert, an utterly sterile place devoid of life – including of course, the human race. Such a conclusion may seem somewhat alarmist, yet during the past number of years, insect life has been in alarming decline. This summer it would appear that there has been a dearth of midges. That may seem like good news until it is remembered that millions of our birds depend very heavily upon midges and their ilk for food.
The speed of the decline in insect life, especially on farmland, is such that some entomologists are moved to describe the situation as an Armageddon. That it is a serious situation I have no doubt at all and the fact that some nature reserves, where clearly there is no spraying of pesticides, are also witnessing a similar decline in insect life is worrying. Of course, we know that as intensification of farming continues, some reserves can find themselves completely isolated and equally we know that wildlife needs corridors to connect to other wild places.
Indeed, as a generalisation it is an absolute fact that the recent declines in farmland bird life may mainly be due to the lack of insects in this kind of habitat. The intensification of agriculture, especially in the country’s arable farming areas, effectively means that there is no food for many of the birds associated with farmland. And obviously, if there are no insects for birds to feed on, bird populations inevitably fall. When did you last listen to the breathless singing of skylarks?
I am aware that on many occasions in this column, I have cited the heavy use of pesticides as a reason for declines in bird numbers. Scientists are now positively declaring that this is definitely a major cause of such declines. Over the course of the last fifty years, we have lost more than half of our populations of farmland birds. And whilst climate change does seem to be making weather patterns more volatile and therefore adding to the pressures on these birds, our efforts to counter such change can only, at best, be long term. We have the ability if not the will to more realistically address other problems ….now!
Furthermore, it is worth reminding readers that bees are not by any means the only pollinators so vital to the welfare of crops, as thousands of other types of insects also fulfil this essential role. Again, should insect populations continue to fall at the present rate, this will inevitably become an increasingly worrying problem.
Different species of birds have developed a vast array of insect hunting techniques over the course of their evolution. Swifts, swallows and martins, all of them notably fast flyers, ‘hoover’ up vast quantities of flying insects by flying with their beaks open. These insects accumulate into a ball in the throat, which is then regurgitated and during the breeding season is fed to young birds in the nest. Speed and agility are the food gathering attributes of these particular insect eaters. They are high flyers in good weather, low in less favourite conditions, for this is where the insect life will be.
Others, such as warblers, robins and wrens, spend their lives either scouring the leaves of trees and shrubs for insect life or poking into bark and various nooks and crannies for the likes of spiders and other bugs. In general, insect eaters have fine bills whereas those that feed primarily on seeds – often the seeds of weeds, which due to herbicide use are also diminishing – are equipped with blockier bills. An example is the dunnock, often erroneously known as a hedge sparrow, which as Why not send us your snaps and have your image appear as our Reader’s Pic of the Week?
You can email photographs to news@stirling observer.co.uk or pop into our office at 34 Upper Craigs, an insect eater, has a fine bill, whereas the unrelated house sparrow, has a really chunky bill.
There are others that feed on the wing and during the past few days, I have been entertained by one of my local pied wagtails, which has been regularly scouring my lawn for insect life. This comical wee character has either been picking them up from the ground or from time to time, snatching them out of the air after short and vigorous aerial pursuits. On other occasions, its spindly little legs become a blur as it suddenly races forward in further pursuit of either low flying or ground based insects.
On the loch shore, grey wagtails hunt in similar fashion although in their case they often fly quickly out over the loch to pick off insects from the water’s surface. The grey wagtail I always think of as a quite elegant yet delicate bird with its soft yellow tinted underparts, contrasting with a grey back, black, grey and white wings and that black bib or throat patch.
Pied wagtails always manage to make me smile. There is an impression that this is the miniature Coco the Clown of the avian world. Facially, the clown-like image continues with those black eyes in the midst of those chalk white cheeks. The clownish theme is also further emphasised by the posture adopted by the bird, the fast scamper in pursuit of insects and of course, that ‘wagging’ tail.
The reason for the wag is not at all clear. In fact it is not so much a side-to-side wag as an up and down flick. Some say, it is a communication tool which tells other wagtails of its presence. Some say that it is a form of camouflage related to the movement of water which is often the chosen habitat of these attractive wee birds. Yet another theory is that the wagging tail disturbs insects Stirling, FK8 2DW.
You can also log on to our website at www.stirling observer.co.uk and send your picture using the“send your pics”link. which the bird can then catch and consume, whilst another even suggests the unlikely theory that it is a form of challenge to predators, which effectively says, ‘catch me if you can!’
The truth is that we simply don’t really know what the function of the wagging tail is! However, if we want to go on enjoying the likes of swallows and martins and of course, our amusing wagtails, universally, we are going to have to do something about the rapidly diminishing insect life upon which these and millions of other birds depend. We need the buzz back again - quite a challenge!
Please make sure that when your are sending your images you include your name, address and contact details and a little piece of information about your picture.