BBC Wildlife - UK (2021-12)

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 91

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STUART BLACKMAN

Science writer

SARAH MCPHERSON

BBC Wildlife

RICHARD JONES

Entomologist

JV CHAMARY

Biologist

POLLY PULLAR

Naturalist

DAVE HAMILTON

Horticulturalist

LEOMA WILLIAMS

Science writer

BBC WILDLIFE EXPERTS

RICHARD JONES ANSWERS

They are – they just don’t like running or

flying in wet weather. When it rains, flying

(and crawling) insects shelter by roosting

under leaves or logs, resting in the leaf litter

or pressing themselves down into the grass-

root thatch. They resume activity as soon as

the sun comes out.

British species need to be able to

function in our wet, damp, cool, temperate

oceanic climate – insects with a more

Mediterranean range can’t survive here.

A quick look at distribution maps shows

that most British insect species occur in

south-east England, where it’s warmer and

drier, and each has a range petering out at a

zone where the damp and cool gets just too

much for it to survive. This is particularly

obvious with warmth-loving bees, wasps

and ants, which need warm weather to

forage and dry soils in which to nest.

Why aren’t Britain’s insects

better adapted to rain?

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questions to

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ASK US

Insects will quickly

seek some form

of shelter when

it starts raining

Research suggest
apes may know,
or at least have
some idea of, what
you’re thinking