Here where I live in south eastern Norway insects seem to have suddenly disappeared in the matter of weeks. Bees, bumblebees, butterflies and flies of any kind are as good as totally gone. It’s strange now as there would normally be a lot of them on flowers and plants which they are attracted to. There weren’t too many before that, but at least some and the last years there’s been rather plenty. The loss of insects also seem to have taken the birds with them as there are very few birds also to be seen anymore.
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There seem to be more birds than ever around us this year, particularly flycatchers like thrush nightingales and robins, though every year I worry about the bees, because it does feel like there are fewer. Having said that, all our cherries and apples were fertilised. And there are huge numbers of flies and butterflies. Haven’t seen a dragonfly yet, though, but they come later.
I haven’t seen many flying insects so far. My windows are open 24/7 for a while now yet I’ve had no wasps or annoying mosquitoes in the house yet.
Google tells me most mosquitoes and wasps will start to annoy us in July and August, so perhaps they will arrive soon.
Everytime I open my window for 10-15 minutes I can spot at least a dozen mosquitos on my ceiling.
So nope, I did not notice any sudden disappearance.
The Spring was late this year, I hope that is the reason
Because of the heat last week I occasionally threw all the windows open and noticed like…a fly or 3…
Bit concerning…
Insect decline is a widespread problem unfortunately. Habitat loss, pesticides and climate change are the main reasons for it. If you own a lawn, you can help the pollinators by not mowing it so often, or better yet, by leaving a wild patch for them.
This year it’s moths I haven’t seen much of. This time of year they should be getting in through every open window and door to annoy me at night but I’ve barely seen any.
I live in south eastern Norway too, and I have noticed that there are very few bees. However, there are always at least 10 bumblebees in our garden (at daytime) and at least 10 birds in a 100 meter radius around our house. Very few flies have gotten inside our house this year, but they are certainly here as I have witnessed when our dogs poo in the garden.
Nope, too many mosquitoes to spend much time outside in the evening.
Not that sudden, but I’ve noticed a gradual loss during something like a decade.
I haven’t, I’ve had mosquitoes, flies and too many bumblebees (too many=more than zero) flying around the house
I see plenty of bugs in a city environment. Flies, moths, occasional wasp. Mosquitos out on a meadow near allotments. It’s difficult to judge the precise amount. If their population had halved compared to the previous year, there would still be too many for my taste.
Actually, in Austria where I live it seems to be a good year for insects. I even spotted some, I’d never seen before (maybe migrating?).
I don’t know about suddenly in the last few weeks, but certainly over recent years. My garden used to be abuzz, quite literally, with all variety of creature. The last decade has absolutely seen a reduction in biodiversity.
Yes. 35 years ago I was riding my fathers motorcycle on the tank and I head to wear a face cover because I got hit by insects all the time.
Nowadays we almost have no more insects on our car. It’s frightening.
Definitely not. In the past week i have encountered flies, spiders, bees, wasps, midges, some weird insect ive never seen before and a crow. Those are just the ones that got into my house too. They’re doing alright here.
Edit: I’ve also had a lot of moths and crane flies in ny home too.
Insects are everywhere over here. At least where I live, at a forest.
I don’t think so anecdotally but it’s definitely a huge problem globally. In my experience bees love raspberry plants and you’ll always see loads of them.
I’ve seen more bees this year than I can ever remember before. Bumblebees about as much as usual, but I’ve seen less flies and butterflies.
More like a progressive disappearance, which isn’t new. There are so many butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, but also wild birds and wild flowers that I haven’t seen since the late 90s. And I only see bees in the city. They’re gone in farming areas.
Not that I’ve noticed, I went for a walk yesterday and heard what must’ve been dozens of grasshoppers, and I’ve seen a lot of bumblebees lately.
I can’t say I noticed with insect nets in windows, but I think there’s still a lot of birds around our house, it sounds like in forest at times and we are just a riverbank 10 minutes from main square so I’d say there must be enough insects for them.
Yes. At the start of spring, I actually bought the little fuckers an insect hotel in the hope of encouraging them to hang around the garden. Today, I saw (and killed) 2 mosquitos and my wife got freaked out by a wasp. That was it.
We live in a very green and leafy suburb in Helsinki and have hardly seen any insects. I had thought maybe all the birds we have are sticking up but something definitely feels a miss.
Not that sudden, but it’s something I’ve noticed over the years. When I was a child like 20-15 years ago the garden and just the nature surrounding my village was always full of butterflies (all different kinds), dragonflies, fireflies, etc. I haven’t seen a single firefly in at least a decade and nowadays there’s barely any butterflies and if you see any it’s like one or two brimstones. I haven’t seen one of the more rarer ones in ages.
I haven’t noticed any change in last weeks. I’ve actually been noticing more bees this June than I remember seeing about 5 years ago.
Not where I live. Lots of bugs in general. It’s why I don’t leave my windows open at night.
I have with most, but unfortunately the midgies and cleggs* are more than making up for it.
*I’m not sure what the English name is for these (ironic, I know) – imagine like big, fuck off biting flies.
In Sweden where I live there are plenty of insects. Too bloody many..
Yes. Only a couple of days ago I noticed that most cherrieblossoms in my garden was not pollinated.
What is definetly a difference compared to 20 years ago is the lack of insects on windshield when you are driving by car.
But I’ve moved to a more rural area before Covid hit with a rather large lot. I’ve learned that if you let the grass grow (even if it is just small parts) and just mow it twice a year, the quantity and variety of insects increases by a lot. The same goes for other natural habitats like having some dead wood or having a small pond or river.
Butterflies. Not that much butterflies. These days hardly can find some.
Actually, yes. I have. I still saw plenty of bees and similar (I can’t really differentiate between them), but currently my balcony door is open and the lights are on, and there are no mosquitos or flies. There weren’t any in the past few months either. Just last year I’d have to fight like 50 of them by this point.
Yes. Last summer I hardly saw any wasps or ants at all, and normally they are all over around our house and terrace. So far this summer it‘s been the exact same.
I am seeing more butterflies this year than before. We had an action called “Maai Mei Niet” (Don’t Mow May) and I feel like it worked.
I know their numbers have declined, but you can still find a lot of insects if you look for them, including bees, bumblebees, wasps, ants, beetles, true bugs, flies, dragonflies… And you don’t need to look for mosquitoes lol.
Ireland.
Usually I see dozens of bees on my wild roses. This month there has been none.
I planted foxglove seeds last year, this year I have seen more bees than usual because of their flowers. If you plant it, they will come etc.
There’re fewer butterflies and mosquitoes this year but similar amount of flies and wasps, bees.
Yes, not only insects but mainly arachnids, i live on the island of Sardinia:
* red mites (Balaustium murorum) which walked on the external walls of the buildings, they have completely disappeared;
* i don’t see scorpions anymore since the beginning of this century (20 years ago):
* i could see a lot of rare spiders in the countryside such as the orb-web spider, the diving bell spider, tarantulas and also the european black widow when i was a child, not anymore.
Probably the arachnophobics don’t feel sorry for their disappearance.
Fireflies, i could see their light at night in the wood in front of my childhood home, i think they are exincted now.
I don’t hear the sound of cicadas and crickets in summer anymore.
On the contrary bees have become more numerous lately; every spring they arrive on time to build a hive on my terrace (I use harmless methods to push them away like burning some coffee in a bowl).
Definitely not, on the contrary, there are much more of them but also spiders, it’s hard to walk outside sometimes without bumping into their webs.