No flies on...

[TCX]

Pretty random but as I was driving home today ,realised bonnet n windscreen completely clear of flies,bugs!
Currently only doing 40 mile round trip commute,compared to other years when it was hundreds of miles a week,but was covered in them round this time previous years?

[MikeM6]

My cars were properly covered in them earlier this week, little buggers were not shifting easily either!

[Limpet]

I've noticed this as well. I wouldn't say the car is clear of them, but there are noticeably fewer than in previous years.

Apparently, insect populations globally are in steep decline.

[anonymous-user]

60% decline in flying insects in the past 20 years… at least when measured by members of the public counting splattered bugs on their number plates.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/may/uks-f...

[brisel]

Nothing to do with improved aerodynamics of modern cars then. Other than the vertical number plate of course. It’s all about climate change and farmers poisoning the countryside. What’s left of it.

[mikeiow]

There’s an app and a splat-o-meter to help scientists get actual data…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k_487a5fIs0

[Mr_Megalomaniac]

wyson said:

60% decline in flying insects in the past 20 years… at least when measured by members of the public counting splattered bugs on their number plates.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/may/uks-f...

This seems to make sense, especially near built up areas.
We drove to Norfolk earlier this year and Suffolk recently and the car was covered with bugs.

[Huff]

mikeiow said:

There’s an app and a splat-o-meter to help scientists get actual data…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k_487a5fIs0

Thumbs-up.

Do contribute, I did this last year and am this - the survey results from last year are great dismay in terms of decline in biodiversity.

[mattyprice4004]

brisel said:

Nothing to do with improved aerodynamics of modern cars then. Other than the vertical number plate of course. It’s all about climate change and farmers poisoning the countryside. What’s left of it.

Probably more to do with vast swathes of countryside being turned into housing estates I’d guess!

[Silvanus]

As mentioned by a few other posters, we are definitely suffering a fast decline in flying insects. There are a number of different factors causing it but on the whole its a bad thing. Its a very bad year this year for butterflies and moths, not sure on the stats and predictions for other insects.

[otolith]

brisel said:

Nothing to do with improved aerodynamics of modern cars then. Other than the vertical number plate of course. It’s all about climate change and farmers poisoning the countryside. What’s left of it.

That would probably be why the study reporting the decline counted them on… number plates!

[Rob 131 Sport]

As someone who drives around the UK with work I’ve been very concerned about the continuing demise of the natural habitat with one of the signs being the number of insects on the car.

It seems to be only about 20 per cent of what it was a few years ago. I remember in June 2014 going on a family holiday to Spain and literally having to stop every hour in the area between Clermont Ferand and the Spanish border to clean the insects off the front of the car.

[essexplumber]

brisel said:

Nothing to do with improved aerodynamics of modern cars then. Other than the vertical number plate of course. It’s all about climate change and farmers poisoning the countryside. What’s left of it.

Surely some of our classic car owning members can validate your claim? Not saying you’re wrong but it would be one way to find out.

[SmithCorona]

I drove around France and Germany, Alsace, etc. the other week in the warm weather. The front of the car was, absolutely covered in insects. This does not happen to the same extent at home.

On the autobahn, it sounded like it was raining from the windscreen with the amount of them hitting it.

The only things I can think of are: it is too early in the UK for the majority of insects to be out. Or, there are significant amounts of "Bio" (I.e. Organic) farming on the continent - and that is less impactful on insect populations than traditional methods.

[67Dino]

I know they’re important but personally I really hate most flying insects. I like butterflies, bumble bees and dragonflies but that’s it. I thoroughly dislike:

- Mosquitoes, midges and anything that bites
- Wasps, bees, hornets and anything that stings
- Bluebottles, flies and anything that buzzes around noisily
- Greenfly, blackfly and anything that ruins your plants.
- Moths that eat your suits then just stupidly donk around your lightbulbs.

Seems to me that much else in the animal kingdom quietly gets on with its life and doesn’t bother me too much. Flying insects seem determined to be as irritating as they possibly can.

Having fewer of them, including stuck all over my car, is one of the few upsides of the destruction of our natural environment in my view.

[Norton850]

I haven't washed my daily driver in a few weeks and have also noticed the lack of squished bugs.

Most of my commute is through Kent countryside..

[Zarco]

I found plenty of bugs last month riding around Oxfordshire on my motorbike. It actually seemed particularly buggy out there.

[Speed addicted]

I was out on my motorbike around Aberdeenshire on Monday, had to stop regularly to clean the visor due to insect death.
We do still have quite a lot of land that hasn’t been made into housing estates though!

[shih tzu faced]

Increased health & safety awareness amongst the bug community is to blame. Airborne bug squadrons are being advised to fly a minimum of 15 feet above ground level over busy roads to reduce accidents and personal injury claims.

[gl20]

Saw this thread before taking the dog out, then came home to this on the front door, which was a first. We live out in the countryside, mind.