Where have all the bugs gone?

[beardface]

Is it me or is there a distinct lack of flying bugs about this year? Normally loused out with flies etc by now, but hardly anything.

 

[jondear]

I think they are down south lots here now .
Biting dunn flies ,clegs appeared last week!

 

[Kevtherev]

Clegs about today as I crossed a hay field loads of swallows too flying low so must be lot of insects about.

 

[Widgetone]

They're starting to appear in Suffolk, maybe the cold in April kept them back. Was worried the swallows/swifts would go hungry this year.
Remember the summer evenings driving back from the pub ( in the 1980s ) and the windscreen used to get splattered...

 

[Campani]

Have you changed anything major on the farm? we have certainly noticed a lot more bugs since we built a pond. Changing something else could create the reverse?

 

[mixed breed]

Not many flies pestering in the parlour yet, but I took the oh's fiesta on the school run yesterday morn and her windscreen and number plate were plastered with splatted bugs.

 

[upnortheast]

Always used to reckon it was Yorkshire show week when the flys started being a nuicance in the parlour.

Fair splatter on the front of the vans when they came back yesterday

 

[toquark]

Things are definitely later this year, the midges only really started this week, fully a month later than normal. Plenty swallows and bats about too which suggests there’s plenty to go at.

 

[beardface]

Have you changed anything major on the farm? we have certainly noticed a lot more bugs since we built a pond. Changing something else could create the reverse?

Nothings changed, just generally later I guess. Certainly don't get a windscreen full when driving about like used to.

 

[GeorgeK]

I saw bees and butterflies come out just before that late cold, wet spell and I think it killed off quite a few. Most flowers are at least a month later than usual. It feels like things are just getting going again now but I think ultimately it's going to be a bad year for insects.

 

[teslacoils]

Was just saying have not had any flying ants this year.

 

[delilah]

Ivermectin wormers.
Crop spraying.
Loss of habitat.

Off to watch the footie .

 

[Lincs Lass]

My UV fly zapper is working overtime ,,getting plenty of crispy critters ,,I wont care if I never see any wasps or flying ants but there are plenty of bees about

 

[texelburger]

Our garden is alive with Bees and all sorts of glies and insects.Has anyone got an abundance of ants ? They're all over the lawn and along fence lines.

 

[primmiemoo]

Lack of dead stock around? When we had a dead pit, it was properly covered, but always had something buzzing around.
A proper Conservationist and Ecologist I know said years ago that regulations make farming too tidy for insects, and that includes lack of corpses.

 

[thorpe]

as a kid i remember going bug hunting, beetles under every stone. not seen it like it for years. this week we have had a clean up cashing in on the scrap, i cant belive it everything you move is alive under it!

 

[Devil's advocate]

I can vouch for plenty of flea beetle & the flies that cause maggoted lambs. Bad years for both.

These late springs cause havoc, because the bad stuff comes back first.