Insects that are a bit 90's

[anitagreen]

Talking to my friend this evening and she doesn't believe that I haven't seen an Earwig since the late 90s? Same for woodlouce has anyone else seen them recently I'm sure their extinct now I genuinely haven't seen one since about 1999.

We also have lots of woodlice, some big whoppers and lots of tiny babies so I think I'm operating some kind of 90's insect nursery facility.

I see all these creatures regularly. Partly because my children seek them out and constantly bring them to show me!

We had stag beetles in the garden last year but not seen any this year. We have a big log pile at one end I think they liked. I don't see many ladybirds now. As a kid, if you took ajam jar out it was easy to get a few. We looked for over an hour a few weeks back and nothing. We always released them BTW. Just liked a look.

Those tiny tiny little red spiders. Haven’t seen one of those in years.

Don't see many May Bugs anymore. The little evil fuckers used to fly about every wear this time of year.

The insects are all in Walthamstow. I was blithely unaware of them until I had DS (4), but I can tell you, if you pick some leaves, pine cones, lilac etc and put it in a plastic bag to carry home, you will have a bag full of earwigs and beetles and caterpillars.

Sticky weed is still out there too btw, if anyone was worried.

@LinoleumBlownapart I nearly trod on a stag beetle the other day it frightened me at first I'd never seen one before but it was huge! Just laying on the floor clicking away I think it was tired

@Kzzzzz I'm 25 now but it might be because I'm not really on "ground level" now I live in a high rise flat so we never get spiders touch wood maybe the odd moth or fly, but that's it and when I take the kids to the park I might see a worm but nothing else?? I am shocked that they are still going but it's nice to know I do love insects and animals just not on me or jumping out at me lol

I see plenty of woodlice but spend a lot of time mooching around in woodland with the kids, I haven't seen an earwig for ages though.

My 9O's insect (I don't know the official name) is a bloodsucker, it was a smallish beetle, about half an inch long and slim, it's wings were a red/orange colour.

Glad I started this thread now it's good to see them still alive just more hidden away now I don't even see snails as much thinking about it. When my Nan used to have her caravan we always used to wake up in the morning with slugs in the awning and we'd try and get them to crawl back outside the trails was really pretty.

Till this thread I thought earwigs and woodlice were the same thing

Silverfish is what I don’t see any more. But I grew up in a flat and now I live locally so maybe we’ve swapped bugs OP. Got any silverfish?

Live rurally not locally!

I hardly ever see ladybirds any more. They used to be all over the place in summer.

Ting I've got some silverfish you can have!

Most of these bugs I've seen loads of in the last year or so. We had a woodlouse infestation last year, I had a ladybird infestation a few years ago. Maybe I'm a bug whisperer

The only one is stag beetles, I've seen maybe one in the last year but we know they genuinely are going extinct

@Tingface I don't but my Nan does! She mops the floor till it's like a swimming pool and when you get up in the night for the loo you can see them

My mum used to swear that if you got a stag beetle in your hair you had to have it cut out used to scare me so much walking on commons is that true?

Little red ants. Where are they now?

And snails are different these days. Where did these new little posh snails come from?

Flying ants!! Not had them for years! I still see everything else frequently.

@Deadringer - I loved the Daddy Long Legs books, although thinking about it, it was a bit weird that they fell in love!

@thenewaveragebear.

Theyre so sweet. Its beyond adorable the way theyre all snuggled up
Squeeeeeeee

Caterpillar from yesterday

Where do you all live that you don't see bugs!
I see all of the mentioned insects and creepy crawlies on a regular basis. We do live in the middle of no where surrounded by fields though.
We have just made a corner of our garden into an insect attraction! Lots of bee friendly flowers, longer grass, insect hotels etc. We recently found a newt under a paving slab and have a frog living in a flowerpot near the front door!

Stag beetles spend most of their life as grubs living in old wood. We keep our gardens too tidy, so there isn't the dead wood for the larvae anymore. If i remember rightly its 4-5 years as the larvae, so thats a long time, unless you are actively keeping that old wood there.

Whilst they are protected their habitat is not, so developers can still build on the sort of old mature gardens that sustain the likes of stag beetles.
All the councils can ask is that the developers relocate them.... but they have to carry out ecological surveys to say they are there and developers are not forth coming with that due to the potential costs involved in finding something.

Personally i also think the demise of the hedge has a lot to answer for where wildlife is concerned.

Only seen an earwig once in my life I think. There's daddy long legs and woodlice in my house right now! Ugh.

Flying ants !

Good shout re the thunderbugs - where have they gone? Perhaps it's not as humid these days?!?