One thing that I have observed over the past two or three years is the scarcity of houseflies (and the like) in my home in the English midlands compared with my home in SW France. I had not given it a great deal of thought beyond considering that it was one aspect of life in France that was less satisfactory than life in England.
However, the Guardian piece has now made me think rather more critically. My rural France is filled with butterflies, bees, wasps, hornets, midges, ants, spiders and the occasional mantis. In my garden there are lizards, and there is a variety birdlife ranging from buzzards and redstarts to sparrows. My urban England is devoid of anything other than domestic pets, occasional grey squirrels and two fat pigeons which are specialists in guano production.
I do live on a 1970s housing estate in which a significant proportion of garden has been covered with asphalt and the like (mainly for the storage of motor vehicles) and am most likely suffering the consequence this. But thinking of houseflies has just raised another possibility. Not all that long ago walking on pavements was an exercise in hazard avoidance - the hazard being the faecal deposits of dogs. Now, dog owners can be seen buying plastic bags in which to collect their pets' discards - these plastic bags are then disposed of hygienically (or hung from trees - which appears to be a satisfactory alternative to some dog owners).
Is it possible that in our (correct) determination to remove our streets from dog mess that we have also removed breeding places for some insects?
