Where has the wildlife gone?

When I was young there was a lot of wildlife.

In the early 70’s around my house there was just endless birds. This was in the middle
of a town. Even as a very little kid I was aware of Blackbirds,
Sparrows, Starlings, Robins, and my favourite, the Thrush. There were
a lot of snails around my house and a lot of concrete. the Thrushes
would bring a snail and bash it open on the concrete. So I would be
on my tricycle and generally pottering about as a small child and be
aware of these birds, as I was little they would come quite close.

Then in the car I’d see great flocks of birds. In those days were were telegraph lines
along the roads. The wires would be festooned with birds. Great
flocks of them would be in the sky. I loved seeing them from the car
as we passed along the fields.

That was before I was five years old. Then we moved to a house with a grass garden and
I became aware of grasshoppers. In those days if you walked in any
grass there would be these insects flying away from your feet. You’d
never get close to a grasshopper. There were so many of them. I
haven’t seen grasshoppers for so long now.

Then there were the Greenfly. They would be all around you a lot of the time in the
garden or walking in the street. Not to mention the front of the car
would be plastered in their dead corpses.

There were always loads of Ladybirds. If you were outside you’d often have a Ladybird
on you. In the garden we’d see them and count the spots on their
backs. Greenfly and Ladybirds are so scarce these days.

Butterflies were abundant in the 70’s and early 80’s. You’d see bushes full of
butterflies. I rarely see any at all now.

There were also a lot of bees, especially bumble bees.

The level of roadkill was high. Rabbits, birds, hares, hedgehogs. I’m not saying
I want to hit wildlife on the road but doesn’t it suggest there is
way less if there is less getting run over?

Obviously, back in the 70’s they were mid early days of intense farming, mono-cultures
and less insecticides. I don’t know if there was an explosion of
insect life due to the fields of plenty. I have no idea. All I do
know is, each time I see a small flock of birds it reminds me of the
old, huge flocks of birds. I massively miss the abundance of
wildlife.

I am noting this down, as, being old, I saw this and need to put it out there. Younger
people will not know how it has changed. I feel it is important for
me to say.