Walking in England’s New Forest in 1892, butterfly collector S. G. Castle Russell encountered such numbers of the insects that they “were so thick that I could hardly see ahead”. On another occasion, he “captured a hundred purple hairstreaks” with two sweeps of his net. Patrick Barkham, who recounts these riots of nature in his 2010 book on […]
Nah, there has been a widespread extinction or endangerment of flying insects in the past few decades. Something like 5% of the previous year’s population per year, which has totaled up to ~80% loss over the last 30 years. It’s also why there are fewer birds, as flying insects make up a large part of their diet.
I actually wrote a quick poem about it a little while ago. The first verse isn’t mine; It was from a coworker of mine, (apparently her dad used to say it a lot when she was a kid) and it gave me the idea for the rest. It needs some work, but it’s relevant so I’ll go ahead and post it anyways: