Join Mark Millan to learn about the fascinating world of insects and their role in promoting biodiversity.

Climate change, habitat loss, intensive agriculture, industrialization, invasive species, novel pathogens, and pollution are exerting increase pressure on native flora and fauna across the planet. Paradoxically, while rampant concrete and sprawling cities are inherently bad news for wildlife, urban green spaces like parks and gardens offer a potential refuge for a variety of plants and animals, including bees, butterflies and beetles.

This is important since, like birds, bats and other animals, insects have suffered serious global and local declines in numbers and species richness over recent years.  Moreover, while they don’t have quite the same aura as giant pandas or cuddly koalas, there’s more to bugs than annoying wasps and wretched greenflies.

Join Mark Millan to hear about the important services that insects provide, such as:

• pollinating flowers, bushes and trees

• providing food for birds, frogs, bats, hedgehogs

• recycling leaves and other debris to fertilize the earth

• consuming pests of flowers and vegetables (aphids, plant-chewing bugs, slugs and mildew).

In view of the above, it would seem like a good idea to nab insects with a camera rather than a rolled-up newspaper, and this talk is based on the photographic documentation (2020 to 2024) of insects in Mark Millan’s own garden situated in the green belt West of Paris. At the end of this talk you will come away with practical tips and action points on how you too can go about ungardening for biodiversity.