Where have all the animals gone?

My first thread, hope it's in the right place.

Now I know that we haven't had the best of summers here in the UK yet but I have noticed the numbers of some of the regular birds / insects we used to see in summer dwindling.

When I was younger at the height of summer it was impossible to go to any shopping centre, playground etc without getting surrounded by wasps. Wasps were ever present around bins etc and me and my brother kept scorecards to see who could kill the most in our house.
Wasp nests were common place and the local angler would always volunteer to get rid of them.
I have hardly seen a wasp all year and thinking back, it seems there has been a rapid decline in numbers over the last 5 years or so.

Bees too were common place but again, I have hardly seen any this year.

I have not seen a single Cranefly, again these were regular victims of improvised swats.

I spend a lot of time walking my dog and midges used to be a constant menace near any pools / streams etc but I encounter them infrequently nowadays and in nowhere near the numbers.

House Martin nests were a common sight on houses, I cannot remember the last time I saw one.

Several breeds of butterflys could often be seen, now, just the occassional Cabbage White.

Starlings are considered a menace but what a sight they were when the sun was setting and they would congregate to roost together. I have not seen this at all this year.

The common spuggy, Sparrow, was everywhere but even their numbers appear to be dwindling.

I could offer possible contributory factors to why this could be happening with a couple of these but it seems so common place.

Now my question is; have any other members noticed this? Could they give more examples and possible explanations?

Sparrows are definitely on the decline. I remember growing up, if you threw a piece of bread outside they'd swarm all over the place. Now a slice of bread can lie all day in my garden. There's plenty of starlings but they don't seem interested. Perhaps it's something wrong with the bread these days? I've seen tons of bumblebees this year but only one honey bee. Butterflies very few, probably because of the weather and because I chopped my buddleia down last summer. Ladybirds, I've seen a few. Wasps, plenty. Hoverfly plenty. Swifts and swallows too.Cranefly? That's a daddy-long-leg right? I hate them, they should be wiped out altogether. Major phobia, can't even look at one. Haven't had as many in the house this year so far. Thank god.

[edit on 16-8-2007 by wigit]

reply to post by Freeborn


I have noticed that too 2 or 3 years ago, it's like if they were gone, i heard that the cellphone could be an explanation for the bees but for birds i don't know, maybe because the weather had change!?

It's a month since my last post and I thought that since the weather had gotten a bit better the butterflies would have come out but they haven't. I've maybe seen little more than a dozen this whole year when usually it's a dozen a day when the sun's out.I've seen a lot of huge slugs though, up to about 5 inches long. And the dreaded daddy-long-leg, unfortunately there's loads. While I'm here, has anyone noticed weevils crawling around the house? I've only started seeing them the last couple of years. One on my ceiling the other day took a whole 24 hours to get from one end to the other. They're slow little critters and I don't know why I've never seen them before. And the flies, there's trillions but that comes with the bin fiasco doesn't it.

reply to post by Freeborn


I think they've all gone to the tropics. We've had wave after wave of strange bugs. The crow population has exploded. So have the mynahs and the paddy-eaters. I don't see that many bees, though.

Same here, plenty of bumblebees but no bees at all.

It is not a joke... During the summers, we have had plenty of antz in our kitchen...

No antz this summer...

Furthermore, I would also say that I have seen less bees than usual this time of the year...

We can go even further. It seems to have been a decline in the number of all animals (I mean wild animals, not pets of course).

Birds songs in the morning are not as usual. Less birds...

Things are really changing a lot...

I haven't really thought about this until I read this thread.

In past years, rabbits upon rabbits came into our yard with thier young to feed on the clover. I have not seen one this year.

Also I have always seen deer in the fields by our house, last year we had a mom and her fawn living close by... beautiful site. but again I have not seen one deer this summer.

Also I am with all of you on the honey bee situation, I have seen very few.

The only thing I have seen in our fields is coyotes, but fewer then years past.

Hmmm does make me wonder if its the weather or something else

They are all dying off. Do you guys know how many acres of land are destroyed each day in construction? I've seen it happen around here. What used to be a nice forested area, surrounded by rolling green hills is now tract housing and a few baseball stadiums.

The fools.

Honey bees have definately been in short supply this year. It seems like they are starting to make a comeback though. In the garden in my Mom's yard I have noticed more honey bees in the last two weeks than I have all through the spring and summer. So maybe they are starting to recover from that colony collapse disorder that has been killing them off.
Kind of late to make a comeback now though...summers almost over.

I suspect that summer,, is nearly over here in NE England, and guess what, i've seen no increase in the numbers of bees, wasps and all the others originally mentioned.

I am lucky to live on the edge of town with the countryside right on my doorstep. When I was a lot younger I spent a lot of my time in the countryside with my friends and frequently saw numerous types of birds, deer, small mammals, insects etc.

I am now lucky enough to have a considerable amount of free time which I spend a lot of in the countryside walking my dog.
The decline in numbers and variety of these previously observed animals / insects is quite disconcerting.

The worrying thing about the posts here is that these reports of dwindling numbers seem to come from a number of locations involving varying types of animal type / species.

The only suggested cause has been housing development, however, there has been no housing development in the countryside near my home for 40 years.

The next question must be;
What do you think are the possible causes?
Me? I think there could be a number of possible contributory factors.
Housing development in some areas.
Climate change.
Habitat change.
New farming practices.
Insecticides.
Migration?

But all of that is mere opinion, there appears to be a distinct lack of statistics and facts, (or maybe I just don't know where to look for them

I don't know, i'm no animal expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I know what I see.

[edit on 18-9-2007 by Freeborn]

[edit on 18-9-2007 by Freeborn]

[edit on 18-9-2007 by Freeborn]

Honey Bee Virus

yea the US is suffering from Colony Colapse Disorder, we have lost as much as 50% of bees, some areas as high as 80%.

Search net for CCD bees, lots of info on it.

The symptoms strangely enough are the same symptoms that kill parasites that the Genetic corn was geared to kill. But bees are dying in all areas not just Genetic corn areas. Bees get confused, can't find their hives and have an immune collapse. This leads to total loss of colony.

Anyway the current advice to bee keepers is Don't stress your bees.

[edit on 18-9-2007 by Redge777]