Helping insects in your community

Nick explains how you can help six-legged creatures in your local area...

Insects are in all of our neighbourhoods and communities and are vital for helping to produce our garden flowers, for pollinating a lot of the fruit and vegetables that we grow and for breaking down organic and rotting matter such as deadwood, leaves and manure. Without insects where we live would be a very bleak place indeed.

Sadly, insects have been declining since World War II. Some of this is down to things like increased use of pesticides across the landscape. But their habitats are declining too; 97% of our wildflower meadows have been lost, for example, largely through agricultural changes and intensification, development and neglect. Whilst local authorities, charities and other organisations are looking at what they can do for insects on a wider scale, there is so much more that needs to be done and almost everyone can play their part.

Two people standing in front of a 'forest garden' sign looking into the vegetation; housing is the background — Community 'forest garden' by Paul Harris/2020VISION

So, what can you do to support insects where you are?

The very first thing you can do as a collection of neighbours or a community group is to go outside and get to know and understand your local landscape. Try to identify what habitats you have close to where you live and ask some of the following questions.

Do you have hedgerows or mature trees close by where insects, such as beetles, can bore down into for shelter and to feed on rotting wood? Hedgerow trees such as blackthorn and willow are vital for early flowering bumblebees too.
Do you have areas of grassland where crickets and grasshoppers can shelter?
Have you got areas of spring bulbs in planters, community spaces or amenity land that provide vital nectar feeding opportunities for bumblebees in spring?
Does your local open space have a bee home or bug hotel for over-wintering solitary bees, wasps, beetles and moths?
Is there a pond on your local patch? Consider its health and whether it could do with more wetland plants such as marsh marigold. Does it have areas for dragonflies and damselflies to emerge from the water or to perch when they're hunting?
Do hedges have any margins that are a bit wilder? Ivy provides shelter for butterflies during winter whereas wilder margins provide vital shelter sites for bumblebees in spring.

Our community engagement teams have been supporting groups all across the county in both urban and rural areas. If there is one thing that we've learnt, it's that there is opportunity to help insects and other wildlife everywhere. The smallest of patches can sometimes be the most valuable, as many insects fly across large areas of the county but need pit-stops to feed within.

Helping insects can be great for you too; managing, or helping to manage, a greenspace is a great way to exercise. Additionally, forming a group and socialising with others can be fantastic for your wellbeing. Learning new things can be daunting on your own but by working as a community, helping wildlife is more manageable.

There is no better time than right now to rally a few neighbours together or chat to your local community group and plan a walk around your local patch. See what's there, try to identify some of the different insects and look to answer some of the questions above about helping wildlife.

Our website has lots if information on how to help insects, and we have our Wildlife Sightings project to let us know what you’ve seen on your local patch.