The jury is out on whether the old adage ‘you can manage what you can measure’ will come up trumps for Britain’s bug life; but a scheme for measuring the bug population is making citizen scientists of many people in the UK, and proving a valuable entry point for them to understand the catastrophic impact of nature loss.
In this case, ‘Bugs Matter’, the citizen science survey led by Kent Wildlife Trust in partnership with the charity, Buglife, has been using volunteer UK citizen scientists to record bug splats on their vehicle number plates. These numbers can then be recorded on the Bugs Matter app, built by Natural Apptitude.
Alarmingly for the future of the UK’s biodiversity, pollination prospects and food chains, the latest data shows that the number of insects on vehicle number plates across the UK fell by 63% since 2021, but data from 2024 shows this decrease has slowed.
Dr Lawrence Ball of Kent Wildlife Trust said: “This huge decrease in insect splats over such a short time is really alarming. It’s most likely that we are seeing the compounding effects of both a background rate of decline as well as a short-term cycle of decline, perhaps linked to the extreme climate in the UK in recent years.”
Even worse data for Kent
Worryingly, Kent is suffering from insect decline at an even higher rate than the rest of the UK. It saw a massive 67% decline in bug splats since 2021.
As the Kent Wildlife Trust pointed out, Kent has been termed ‘The Garden of England’ for hundreds of years, ‘thanks to its scenic hills, fertile farmland and fruit-filled orchards’. In fact, over 70% of Kent is farmland with crops like oilseed rape, strawberries, tomatoes and apples providing sustenance across the UK. Kent Wildlife Trust is now working with farmers across Kent in ‘Farmer Clusters’ to support collaborative working to drive wildlife-friendly farming practices.
The results of the Bugs Matter surveys demonstrate a growing need for conservation research. Helpfully, the survey will launch in Ireland this year with other countries planned for 2026 and beyond.
But it’s not just the UK that has been monitoring its bug life. In Denmark, data collected every summer from 1997 to 2017 found an 80% decline in insect numbers, as well as reduced numbers of swallows and martins which sustain themselves on insects.
Not just bugs – nature in general
The most recent ‘State of Nature’ report (from 2023) highlights devastating UK nature loss. It revealed that one in six species are at risk of becoming extinct in Great Britain. Other species, such as starlings, swifts, hedgehogs and chamomile, are becoming rarer.
It does not end there. The food chain becomes threatened and whole ecosystems can collapse when nature is eroded. As the Natural History Museum pointed out in relation to its Biodiversity Intactness Index: “Biodiversity loss is one of the clearest warning signs that we are facing a planetary emergency. An estimated $44tr of economic value is threatened by biodiversity declines and ecosystem collapse – equal to over half of the world’s total GDP (World Economic Forum, 2021).”
But the news is not all bad. Although the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries globally, with less than half of its biodiversity remaining, the ‘State of Nature’ report pointed out that some species have thrived.
At the time the report was published, Ben McCarthy, Head of Nature and Restoration Ecology at the National Trust, said: “This new report is sobering reading especially with its 19% decline in species abundance. But, if we create the right conditions, we can bring back nature.”
He continued: “We’re committed to doing whatever it takes. We have seen just how quickly nature can recover. For instance, the recent river restoration project on the Holnicote Estate in Somerset where wildlife such as egrets, wagtails, toads and dragonflies have already ‘moved’ in after just a few weeks.”