Not so long ago, during a summer drive in the country, our car windscreens were continually splattered by unfortunate insects. These days this is no longer a problem but one of the reasons for this has dark undertones. Many of those splatted insects were our pollinators, pest predators and important food for other wildlife, and their population is declining sharply. What can be done to halt what is one of the most worrying signs of our biodiversity crisis?
Online Event 7.30pm 31 March
The Galloway Glens spring programme of ‘Natural World’ seminars continues with an evening event in partnership with Buglife, the Invertebrate Conservation Trust exploring what is happening, what and what we can do to support our vital and often under-appreciated insect species.
The expert panel on the night will include Craig Macadam and Claire Pumfrey from Buglife- The Invertebrate Conservation Trust. Craig is an invertebrate ecologist with over 25 years’ experience in this sector. He specialises in freshwater invertebrates but has a good working knowledge of the ecology of a range of terrestrial groups and is particularly interested in the biodiversity of urban areas and the impact of climate change on invertebrates. Claire joined the Scotland team in October 2019 to deliver the ‘Central Scotland B-Lines’ project and has since been involved in the development of other pollinator projects.
To book your free place, click here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-clean-is-your-screen-tickets-136422602677
The event will be on the Zoom platform, log in details will be sent out automatically by Eventbrite a couple of hours before the event. Please check your spam box as sometimes these auto messages end up there!
Ahead of the event, Craig Macadam from Buglife said:
“In 2019 a new word was coined following a review of insect trend data from around the world: Insectageddon. This talk will highlight the declines in insect populations both here, and further afield, and explore some of the potential causes.”
Claire Pumfrey, from BugLife and leading on the innovative ‘B-Lines’ project, added:
“Find out more about this initiative and what you can do to help our pollinators and other invertebrates thrive!
The event will be hosted by Nick Chisholm, Galloway Glens Project Officer. Nick said:
We have been fighting a chemical war against insects for several decades, sometimes deliberately and sometimes thoughtlessly. It is however a sobering thought that at a very blunt level we cannot survive without them, they pollinate, they break down waste and they predate on pest species, yet despite the vital service that they provide we continue to invent ever more imaginative ways to destroy them. Fortunately, they have a set of brilliant ambassadors in Buglife who are working tirelessly to reverse the trend, this event will discuss the problems that they face and most importantly discuss the solutions.
