Skip to main content

Community and Environment

Action for Insects

Why we need to take Action for Insects

Few things conjure up a perfect image of the countryside quite like a bee buzzing from flower to flower. A butterfly fluttering across a meadow. A beetle making its way through tall grass. They paint a wonderful picture, don’t they? The reality, however, is less than idyllic. Modern living has seen insect numbers drop at an alarming rate. We risk losing many of them forever. 

 

Life systems depend on insects

Insects make up the majority of our wildlife and are truly remarkable in the roles they play. Pollinators such as wild bees, hoverflies and moths are vital for passing on pollen to help our flowers reproduce and approximately three quarters of the crop types grown by humans rely on pollination by insects. 

Insects break down and decompose organic materials. They turn dead matter and waste into usable forms, like fertile soil for healthy crops. And let’s not forget that insects are food for many other animals including birds, bats, reptiles, amphibians and fish that we love so much as well as being essential to help feed our growing human population.

 

Can you help?

The parish council has a statutory duty to have regard to conserving biodiversity (Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006) within our parish.  With so many environmental groups on the internet, it is all too easy to be swamped with information and become brain-fogged into inertia.  That is why we have chosen to take our information from, and offer our support to, Bug Life https://www.buglife.org.uk/ in particular their B-Lines project.

 

The South Devon B-Lines Project https://www.buglife.org.uk/projects/south-devon-b-lines/ is a partnership between Bug Life and South Devon Area Of Natural Beauty (AONB) and will create a network of B-Lines linking wildflower-rich areas across South Devon from the West to the East and from the North to the South, linking Dartmoor to the coast and linking urban areas to the countryside. 

Everyone who lives, works, owns land or goes to school on a B-Line can help – if you have a garden, a window-box or a single plant pot, check out the monthly “What to plant now” guides for pollinating friendly ideas. 

Is this page useful?