About

I have been a birder all my life, still am and always will be.    However several years ago I became concerned about the decline in the bee population and pollinating insects.
It was not until the middle of last year(2011) that my interest was rekindled.    My wife was seriously ill in hospital that year and it was on one of my visits that I had to sit in  the waiting area whilst the staff completed a medical procedure.     I flicked through the pages of a magazine and saw an article about a person who had recorded the numbers of insects found in her garden over a period of thirty years.    It was not until the beginning of this year(2012) that I thought any more about the subject but by that time I had forgotten the details of the magazine, the writer, the lady concerned and the location of the garden.    After a number of fruitless searches with Google I tried Leicester garden insects and there it was, I was in business.    Jennifer Owen is the lady concerned and she recorded 2,673 species in her garden over that period.    Then a few weeks later Sarah Raven presented a three part series on BBC 2 regarding the decline in pollinating insects and her attempts to influence the gardening departments of a number of cities.      In the second part Dr Jennifer Owen was the guest - all extremely  interesting.        I am no expert but I am now hooked on insects - however attempting to identify is very frustrating.   I have spent the summer months searching and have found some interesting subjects which will figure in future posts.