Apocalypse Not Yet

 News of the imminent Insect Apocalypse, about which St David Attenborough was warning us recently (citing a decidedly dubious research finding – where's the BBC's 'Reality Check' when you need it?), doesn't seem to have reached the insects of Lichfield. Tiny flying things of all descriptions are swarming everywhere, and on many of the town's paths pedestrians are reduced to sweeping their hands to and fro like windscreen wipers to clear a passage through the airborne biomass. I've had insects flying into my eyes and mouth and settling on my clothes – they're inescapable. A few I can identify, including the lovely little Alder Leaf Beetle [below], which is everywhere just now (Lichfield is a well watered city with many fine alder trees). Most, however, remain unidentified flying objects, very tiny, abundant and ubiquitous ones. Happily this wealth of insect life has drawn the swifts back to town, after a slow start with only occasional sightings. Now they are circling overhead, gratefully hoovering up all that airborne protein. Summer is on its way.