POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2019
Insectageddon
28
mins 25 secs
©2019
ABC
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Precis
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Remember
when a country drive ended with the windscreen covered in smashed insects?
Ever wondered why that seems to happen less these days? |
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|
Now
a landmark German study has come up with a possible explanation. Conducted
over thirty years, scientists in the city of Krefeld have documented a
collapse in that country’s insect population. Those findings are backed up by
another study across the border in the Netherlands which concludes a sharp
drop in wildlife populations. |
|
|
The
scientists are warning that a crash of insect numbers could directly threaten
not only the birds and other animals which prey on them but also, the plants
that rely on them for pollination. |
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|
“About
80% of our crop depends on insects for pollination. 80% of the wild plant
species as well”, explains Professor Hans de
Kroon from the Netherlands’ Radboud University. “If we are losing that, we
are losing the ecological foundation of ourselves.” |
|
|
The
impacts on agriculture could be dire. Ironically, the culprit is believed to
be farm-based insecticides. At its worst, this may be the realisation of US
biologist Rachel Carson’s famous 1960s “Silent Spring” prediction
of eco-system decline. |
|
|
But
the good news is that the Europeans are fighting back. In Germany, after a
citizen-led petition to protect insects, the state of Bavaria mandated that a
third of all farmland must be organic by 2030. And ordinary people are paying
farmers to plant flowers instead of crops. |
|
|
In
the Netherlands, scientists are planting wildlife corridors to create safe
passages for our flying friends. “You can really get it back quite
rapidly”, says Professor de Kroon, “but you have to help it a little
bit.” |
|
|
Foreign
Correspondent’s Eric Campbell meets the passionate characters chronicling our
bugs’ lives. He joins entomologists trapping and counting insects in Germany,
biologists measuring the effects on bird and frog populations in the Netherlands,
and tweedy British nature lovers chasing butterflies and bumble bees in the
woods of Kent. |
|
|
All
have a passion for their tiny subjects, and a sense of urgency about the
steps needed to avoid...Insectageddon. |
|
Aerial
over Rhine, castle. Super: |
Music
|
00:00 |
Title:
Insectageddon |
|
00:10 |
Eric
driving through countryside |
|
00:14 |
Super: |
|
00:19 |
Aerial
over farmland |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Flying insects, by
definition, get around -- along forests, over fields, and if they’re lucky,
through insecticides. |
00:23 |
Insects
on flowers |
But
for decades, people have had a nagging sense that insects aren’t travelling
well. |
00:35 |
Bees |
Now,
some scientists suggest their numbers are crashing; we could even be facing
Insectageddon. |
00:43 |
Eric
driving Beetle |
So
how bad is it, and can it be stopped? I’m in Germany on the trail of
disappearing bugs. |
00:53 |
Eric
to camera, driving |
Now
one of the reasons for the concerns has been dubbed the Windshield
Phenomenon. People remembering that when they were kids and went on family
drives across Europe or North America that the windshield would be literally
covered with insects. And these days it seems you can drive for days and
never have to clean it. We’ve been travelling in this Beetle and haven’t hit
a single bug. |
01:04 |
|
But
how do you prove it? Well, that would have meant people spending literally
decades collecting and counting millions of insects to see if there really
had been a drop. And who would have the time or inclination to do that? Thank
goodness for the Germans. |
01:27 |
|
Music
|
01:46 |
Aerials
over countryside |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: I’m heading to the small north-west town of Krefeld near
the Dutch border. It’s home to a startling discovery that’s rung alarm bells
around the world. |
01:54 |
Entomology
society display |
The
local entomology society has been quietly collecting and sorting insects for
more than a century. |
02:08 |
Eric
in society museum |
Music
|
02:19 |
Eric
with Martin Sorg |
Eric: So this is where you keep all your insects,
Martin? Martin: Yes, these are parts of the rooms where the
collections are stored. For
instance, here. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Martin Sorg
started hanging out here when he was 13. He’s now a PhD in entomology. |
02:32 |
Insect
specimen files |
Eric: How many insects do you think you have
altogether in this building? Martin: We don’t know the real numbers. But we
think far more than 80 million. |
02:52 |
Eric
with Martin |
Eric:
Eighty million insects in this building here! Wow! |
03:01 |
Martin
shows insect case |
Music
|
03:04 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: In 1989 he and
some young colleagues decided to do something extraordinary. |
03:08 |
Photos.
Martin and colleagues. |
They
began collecting flying insects from 63 nature reserves and tracked the
changing numbers for 30 years. |
03:15 |
Man
looks at insect under microscope |
Music
|
03:26 |
Martin
interview |
MARTIN
SORG: We have standardised the
methodology because we wanted to compare each year’s results. |
03:30 |
Eric
and Martin into jeep, drive to trap sites |
Music
|
03:40 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: It’s taken
extraordinary perseverance and obsessive attention to detail. |
03:46 |
|
Martin: That’s the trap, das is die Falle. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: They’ve placed identical traps in identical locations
year after year after year. |
03:53 |
Eric
and Martin in field with trap |
Eric: So the insects fly up to the top of the
tent and get caught in that bottle. |
04:03 |
|
Martin: Yes, that’s the idea. Insects normally
orient themselves to the brightest point and that’s the principle of this
trap. Eric: They go to the brightest high point and
you’ve got them. Martin: Now we'll go and change the bottle. |
04:08 |
Martin
changes trap bottle |
Music
|
04:26 |
Martin
carries insect sample into lab. Drains, weighs, etc |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Each sample was
brought back, drained, sorted and weighed in exactly the same way. And in
October 2017 they were able to report a stunning finding. In the course of
16,900 days of standardised sampling, flying insect numbers had crashed by
three quarters. |
04:30 |
Aerial.
Trap tent in field |
MARTIN
SORG: It was a drop of 75 per cent |
04:57 |
Martin
interview |
during
a timeline of 27 years. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: That’s shocking. MARTIN
SORG: Yes that’s shocking. |
05:04 |
CU
Insects on plants |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: And it’s shocking because
a healthy environment depends on a healthy insect population. They keep weeds
in check, dispose of dead animals, pollinate plants, and feed birds and frogs
and other animals right up the food chain. Our very existence depends on
creepy crawlies. |
05:10 |
Martin
interview |
MARTIN
SORG: Declines in biodiversity are a very serious thing and we should be
worried, yes. |
05:36 |
Martin
launches drone |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: So what’s been
killing so many insects? The data ruled out changes to weather or vegetation.
The project’s drone footage shows a more likely culprit. |
05:47 |
Drone
footage over farmland |
Music
|
06:03 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: The nature
reserves are protected from land clearing and chemicals. But they’re
surrounded by farmland that’s enemy territory for bugs, with huge stretches
of monoculture, absolutely no flowers and regular spraying of pesticides. |
06:11 |
Martin
interview in field |
MARTIN
SORG: The farmland is inside the daily
flight activity of many of the species flying inside of these traps. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: So could the
problem just be modern farming? "What
do you suspect is a big reason for this…?" Martin
Sorg says speculation is not his department. Martin: I do not suspect. |
06:31 |
Driving
shots |
Music
|
06:52 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: To meet people
who do suspect, he suggested we drive across the border to the Dutch city of
Nijmegen. |
06:58 |
University
exteriors. Student on bikes |
Music
|
07:06 |
Eric
into university building |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: For some years,
researchers at Radboud University had also been noticing a big drop in
wildlife numbers. The Krefeld study confirmed their worst fears. |
07:13 |
|
PROF.
HANS DE KROON, Radboud University: All
of a sudden we had a percentage, |
07:28 |
De
Kroon interview |
a
scientifically proven percentage, of how much this whole bulk of insects was
going down. |
07:30 |
|
Eric: "I mean how concerned should we be about that?" ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Ecologist Hans de Kroon has little doubt that farming is
responsible. |
07:35 |
|
PROF.
HANS DE KROON, Radboud University: Agriculture can have effects on the living
conditions in the nature reserves and we know for example that very low
levels of insecticides can already disrupt insect life and these traces have
been found spreading around. |
07:41 |
Drone
shot. Farmland |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Since World War Two, pesticides have been
used to kill organisms that are bad for crops, |
07:59 |
Pesticide
spraying |
like cockroaches and grasshoppers. |
08:08 |
City.
Fruit and veg |
But what if their overuse is now threatening
insects that are good for crops, like bees? Farmers need pollinators to grow
apples, onions, melons, broccoli, celery, cabbage, watermelon, cucumber,
lemon, carrot, buckwheat, eggplant, strawberries… PROF.
HANS DE KROON, Radboud University: Well you must realise that about 80 per
cent |
08:14 |
De
Kroon interview |
of
our crops depends on insects for pollination. Eighty per cent of the wild
plant species as well. A major part of the insects is being eaten by birds
and by other animals being essential in the food chain. So if we are losing
all of that, we are losing the sort of the ecological foundation of
ourselves. |
08:34 |
Eric
in reserve, to camera |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Now some people
have questioned the whole idea of an insect apocalypse because the study in
Krefeld just looked at some reserves in Germany. But it’s also been going on
across the border here in the Netherlands and I’m about to meet some other
keen entomologists who’ve been counting insects. They’re more laid back than the Krefeld
crowd, but their findings have been almost as stunning. |
09:02 |
Eric
greets Paul and meets collectors |
Eric: I’m looking for Paul. Hello Paul. Eric.
From Australia. Paul:
Oh, Australia! The guys from Australia. Nice to meet you. Be a guest. Eric:
Thank you very much. This is your crew? |
09:25 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Paul van Wielink
and his mates are retirees or hobby collectors who meet just one evening a
week. Paul: Hank. Eric:
Hello, Hank. How are you? Hank: I’m
the son of Joriksberg. Eric:
Excellent. Paul: But
he knows a lot of moths. Eric: He knows a lot of moths. Personally? Paul: Everything. |
09:41 |
Setting
up screen |
Music
|
09:57 |
|
Man:
Do these ones first? Paul:
I'll do the bottom ones. |
10:09 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Their technique is
simple. They set up a screen… |
10:13 |
|
Paul: God damn it. This is incredibly annoying. |
10:17 |
Screen
light on/Collection of insects |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: …turn on a light, collect the insects that turn up, and
send the results to Radboud University. And it’s all bad news. |
10:24 |
Eric
with Paul |
Paul: All kinds of insects are going down. Eric: How much are the numbers going down? Paul: The moths by about 60 per cent. The
beetles by about 70 per cent. And those figures are comparable with those in
Krefeld. Eric: So the same sort of catastrophe? Paul: That is kind of catastrophe, yes, I think
so. Eric:
Same thing's happening here. Paul:
That’s happening here also. Eric: Wow. |
10:38 |
|
Paul: And I saw a study this afternoon in
Denmark, there was a study published, with windscreens and counting hits in
20 years and also they had the same thing. |
11:00 |
|
Eric:
So it’s true about windscreens; there are less bugs hitting windscreens? Paul: Yes. And it's all over the world. Eric: It’s not just an urban myth? It's really
happening? Paul: There’ll be in Australia also, I think. Eric: Okay. Paul: Because you have farmers there too. Eric: Yeah. |
11:14 |
Collectors
cataloguing insects |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: The problem is we don’t really know what’s
happening in Australia, let alone most of the rest of the world. |
11:28 |
Paul
collecting insects from screen |
Paul: I see
something quite interesting here. Yes! That is a caddisfly! |
11:34 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: They´ve been counting insects for more than
20 years, but there just aren´t enough projects like this internationally.
The world has grown rather complacent since the last warning of
‘Insectageddon’ nearly 60 years ago. |
11:38 |
|
Paul: That is truly very beautiful. |
11:57 |
Silent Spring
documentary excerpt |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: In 1962, a
wildlife biologist, Rachel Carson wrote a global best-seller called Silent Spring, sounding the alarm on
DDT. |
12:00 |
|
RACHEL
CARSON: Unless we do bring these
chemicals under better control we are certainly headed for disaster. |
12:14 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: She exposed how
the pesticide was wiping out insect populations and contaminating the food
chain. And she envisioned silent springs, without bird song in the morning or
frog choruses at night. |
12:19 |
|
RACHEL
CARSON: These sprays, dusts and
aerosols, are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests and
homes -- non-selective chemicals that have the power to still the song of
birds and the leaping of fish in the streams. |
12:40 |
Drone
shots over farmland |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Rachel Carson’s
work led to a near global ban on DDT. But since then, other potent chemicals
have taken its place. |
12:56 |
Sprayer
in field |
Regulators
fear some of the new ones have grown way too lethal. If there is a smoking
gun, |
13:09 |
Eric
to camera, on back of sprayer |
some
suspect it’s a popular type of pesticide called neonicotinoids. Now, in 2018
the EU brought in a near total ban across Europe, but they’re still in use in
Australia. And the Trump administration has overturned a ban to ensure their
continued use in the US. Some scientists believe that’s bad news for bees. |
13:20 |
De
Kroon interview. Super: |
PROF.
HANS DE KROON, Radboud University:
These neonics are usually broken up quite rapidly when they’re out in
the air. But when they’re in the soil, or in the soil and water, or in
surface water, they can hang around for a long time. Probably in very low
concentrations, but these low concentrations really affect insect life. So
it’s a very special class, extremely poisonous for insects. And there’s more
and more evidence that they are really affecting non-target insect species. |
13:47 |
Eric
driving Beetle to Bavaria |
Music
|
14:12 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: So what can be
done to prevent a silent spring? I’m heading down to southern Germany to see
how an entire State is mobilising. |
14:26 |
|
Bavaria
is usually thought of as the heartland of conservatism. And that includes
conserving nature. It’s part of the culture here to protect the forests and
look after wildlife in the city. |
14:39 |
Norbert
with kids to nest |
|
15:00 |
Norbert
at nest with Eric and kids |
Norbert:
This is the nest of the red spotted woodpecker. These boys, they spotted this
nest… |
15:07 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Dr Norbert
Schaffer is president of the Bavarian Bird Society. He and his colleagues hit
on the idea of a petition demanding insect protection. And they focused on
everyone’s favourite insect, calling their campaign ‘Save The Bees’. |
15:14 |
|
DR.
NORBERT SCHAFFER: It’s of course not only
about honey bees, in fact honey bees are a minor part. It’s about insects.
It’s about biodiversity as a whole. |
15:31 |
Bee
campaigners march |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: The idea captured
the public’s imagination. The streets of the capital, Munich, were soon
packed with campaigners dressed as bees, braving freezing weather to
encourage some of Bavaria’s nine million voters to come out and sign. Now,
what happened next took everyone by surprise, |
15:39 |
Eric
to camera, at market |
because
1.75 million people signed it. It was the most popular petition here ever.
And the government soon promised to sign it into law. Environmentalists could
hardly believe their success. Farmers could hardly believe what was about to
hit them. |
16:02 |
Food
market |
The
news laws call for 13 per cent of the State to be put aside as ecological
zones and almost a third of farmland to become organic. |
16:20 |
Schaffer
interview |
DR.
NORBERT SCHAFFER: It is a target. No
one will be forced to go organic. Farmers cannot be forced to do things. The
government has to deliver. Most of the legislation is really aimed at the
government. The government has to deliver certain targets, and all the
government has to put offers on the table. |
16:32 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: So going 30 per
cent organic is a massive change, isn't it? DR.
NORBERT SCHAFFER: I hope so. I hope it
will change our landscape. It is a massive change, but it is doable, there is
no doubt. In other land in Germany, they are talking about 50 per cent
organic now. So it is doable. We know this. It is affordable. It's good for
our environment and it's good for people. It is, of course, a big change.
Well, yes, and it's a change many, many people in Bavaria want, and this is
why they signed up to the petition. |
16:49 |
Aerial.
Tractor on country road |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:
Away from Munich, farmers aren’t so sanguine. |
17:18 |
Franz
driving tractor |
Many,
like Franz Lehner, fear they’ll be lumbered with the cost of going organic.
We caught up with him as he was spraying his wheat fields with nitrogen
fertiliser. He insists chemicals are essential to grow a productive crop. |
17:25 |
Franz
showing diseased wheat leaves |
FRANZ
LEHNER: At the bottom here, where you
see this older leaf, you can see these very small black pustules there. The
disease is called septoria tritic and then you have a poor yield. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: That's why you
need pesticides? |
17:45 |
|
FRANZ
LEHNER: Correct. That's why you need
pesticides so you can protect this plant for the next eight weeks. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Is it possible to
operate without pesticides or plant protection? |
18:03 |
|
FRANZ
LEHNER: Yes, it's possible of course.
Our forefathers also did agriculture without using pesticides, but it has to
be said that we have eight billion people on earth and without pesticide,
without fertilisation, it is not possible to feed these people |
18:16 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Franz Lehner says
if greenies in the city really want to help to change farming, they have to
do more than sign petitions. |
18:43 |
Franz
making sponsorship signs |
They
need to open their wallets. He’s started a program for people to sponsor bee
friendly crops and get their name on a stick for it. |
18:50 |
Franz
and Eric in field. Eric to camera |
This
is interesting. Farmers like Franz and now leasing land for people in the
city to sponsor growing flowers to help bees and other insects… rather than
potatoes or something. People have to
pay – or can pay -- farmers to grow flowers. So instead of just signing a
petition they actually give money as well. Okay. Is it a good idea? FRANZ
LEHNER: Yes, good for farmers, good
for the environment, good for people in the city. |
19:04 |
Hardware
store/Plant sales |
Music
|
19:39 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Other businesses
are cashing in on the concerns. German and Dutch hardware stores are now
featuring bee friendly flowers and bee hotels. But much more will be needed
to help make farming more sustainable. |
19:45 |
Meadow
plants |
Music
|
20:03 |
Eric
and Hans climb over field fence and walk through wildflower strip |
Hans
de Kroon: What
we see right here is that flower strips are created in the landscape… |
20:12 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: In the Dutch
border country, Professor de Kroon and his team are also starting to tackle
the problems of intensive land-clearing.
They’re working with farmers to plant wildflowers on the edges of
their fields, creating a network of bug friendly corridors between the nature
reserves, allowing insects to avoid the dangers of farmland. |
20:15 |
|
PROF.
HANS DE KROON, Radboud University: It should connect bigger nature reserves on that
side with bigger nature reserves on that side. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: So these are
like highways for bees. PROF.
HANS DE KROON, Radboud University: Highways for bees, yes exactly. |
20:41 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Hans de Kroon
says they’re already seeing results, not just for insects but for the birds
and frogs that feed on them. |
20:52 |
|
PROF.
HANS DE KROON, Radboud University:
It’s somewhat surprising but you can really get it back quite rapidly.
In a matter of years. You have to help it a little bit, but it's certainly
possible. It’s this landscape that makes me optimistic about the changes that
we can make. |
21:00 |
|
Music
|
21:14 |
Dover
cliffs, England/Drone shots. Farmland |
|
21:17 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Some scientists
are finding it harder to muster optimism. Across the channel in the English
counties, |
21:24 |
Dave
in garden |
Dave
Goulson has been studying the Krefeld report with dismay. He’s professor of
biology at Sussex University and he fears society is headed for the silent
spring that Rachel Carson warned of. |
21:32 |
Chickens
and Turkey |
PROF.
DAVE GOULSON, Sussex University: It's
like deja vu, you know, we're going round in circles here. It's nuts. |
21:54 |
Dave
interview in garden |
She
saw what was happening all that time ago and we banned a whole bunch of
pesticides as a result, but then we introduced new ones to replace them, many
of which then eventually we banned. So we introduced even more, including the
Neonicotinoids, and 20 years on into their use, we're starting to realise
that they too are harming the environment. The whole system of having a way
of farming which is entirely reliant on chucking on bucket loads of chemicals
is not sustainable. We are going to wipe out insect life if we carry on this
way. |
21:58 |
Dave
shows garden |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: But he’s not
giving up yet. His back garden is a showcase of what individuals can do …
creating organic habitats for insects and letting nature take its course. |
22:28 |
|
Dave: Bee friendly, butterfly friendly. Nature
friendly, actually; it isn't just about bees, it's about everything, birds
and everything else that makes up a natural healthy ecosystem, if you like. Eric: So how do you do that? |
22:43 |
|
Dave: Don't be too tidy. Don't mow all the time.
Grow lots of the right kinds of flowers. Eric: Well, there's a few bumblebees over here. Dave: Yeah. So one of the reasons bees are
struggling in the modern world is there aren't many flowers. |
22:57 |
|
Modern
farmland is pretty flower free and it's a really nice thing that you can do
in your own garden. Lupin is brilliant, lavenders, lots of herbs, things like
marjoram and thyme and sage, rosemary, they're all really good for bees and
you can cook with them as well, so what's not to like? |
23:12 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: One thing you
won’t find here is insecticide. Dave: Just don't, is my advice. |
23:30 |
Dave
interview in garden |
I've
got a big garden that I somehow manage to produce lots of fruit and veg, lots
of pretty flowers and I don't use any pesticides. I haven't done for years,
and I'm not alone, France recently banned pesticides for use in urban areas. Eric: Really? Dave: Completely, the whole country. So, you
know, Paris from now on, I bet you it'll still look just as beautiful, all
the parks and everything. They're not going to be overrun with dandelions and
cockroaches. I'm sure. Some cities did this years ago. Toronto banned
pesticides more than a decade ago and Toronto is still standing. We could get
rid of pesticides completely from our cities and it would be good for bees
and butterflies and good for people too. |
23:40 |
Turkey
in garden |
Music
|
24:17 |
Nuclear
power plant in distance |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: An hour’s drive
away, in the shadow of a nuclear power plant, a band of eco-volunteers is
showing the tide can be turned. |
24:30 |
Volunteers
gather for bee expedition/Nikki briefs volunteers |
Nikki: Anyone else for tea?... Did you get your
tea? Chris and Nick, you’ve got Lydd golf course. You got your clubs? |
24:40 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Led by
entomologist Nikki Gammans, they’re on the trail of endangered bumble bees. |
24:53 |
|
Nikki: Dave just got a brown banded, bombus humilis there the other day. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you that you see a few rare bees. These guys are specifically here to see rare bees. So no pressure, you two. |
25:00 |
Volunteers
set off into nature reserve |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Their hunting
ground is the Dungeness National Nature Reserve on the Strait of Dover. For
the past decade, Dr Gammans has been monitoring bees for the Bumblebee
Conservation Trust. |
25:13 |
|
DR
NIKKI GAMMANS: If you just take the UK
alone, we have one in three of our bee species is actually classed as rare or
threatened. We've had two species go extinct in the UK, and a further seven
are rare and threatened of just our bumblebees. |
25:27 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: It’s not just the
wildlife that’s disappearing, but the wild land they once depended on. DR
NIKKI GAMMANS: Over the last 60, 70
years, we've lost over 97 per cent of our ancient |
25:38 |
|
wildflower
meadows. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: As well as counting bees, Dr Gammans is planting
bee-friendly flowers. And today, there's an unexpected find -- |
25:50 |
Nikki
catches bee |
a
rare bee she feared was gone for good. Nikki: Yay! Yeah, if you’ve got another pot. Oh
wonderful, brilliant, there we go. This is one of the UK's rarest bumblebee
species, it's actually the third rarest bumblebee. A beautiful queen, really
fresh. It’s called the brown banded
carder. She’s very beautiful. |
26:00 |
Nikki
with Eric. Shows bee |
Eric: This is an exciting moment for you? Nikki: Yes. It's really great and I'm really
pleased that we found her here. It's been a very slow season this year. The
weather hasn't been very consistent. We had some quite hot weather over the
Easter period and then it went very cold again. We were concerned how that
might affect the emergence of many of our queens. |
26:25 |
CU
bee in pot |
Eric: This discovery gives you a little bit of
hope? Nikki: Definitely. And when we've been looking at
our analysis of our data from the last 10 years, |
26:45 |
Nikki
with Eric |
actually,
where we've given advice and where we've done actual improvement of the
wildflowers, some of these rare species have doubled in number. This is one
of the first experiments that's actually shown it. Because we've had that
continuation of 10 years, we've been able to monitor them really well. It's
lovely to see this species out and flying. |
26:52 |
|
Eric: Great. What happens to her now? Nikki: We let her go. Eric: Okay. |
27:10 |
Nikki
releases bee |
Music
|
27:14 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: The first challenge will be finding out how big the
global problem is. |
27:24 |
Drone
shot over farmland |
The
ground-breaking study in Krefeld showed the potential scale of an apocalypse
in Europe. Other continents are only starting to wake up to the danger. |
27:30 |
Dutch
volunteers |
Citizen
scientists across Europe are helping to fill the gaps. But It may take a
global effort to avoid a silent spring. |
27:46 |
Credits
[see below] |
|
27:56 |
Out
point |
|
28:25 |
Reporter
&producer
Eric
Campbell
camera
Tomás
Ybarra
editor
Nikki
Stevens
Assistant
Editor
Tom Carr
archive
research
Michelle
Boukheris
Fixer
Stefan Kunze
Additional
Footage
CBS News/Veritone
production manager
Michelle Roberts
production co-ordinators
Victoria Allen
Nelson Roo
digital producer
Ruth Fogarty
supervising producer
Lisa McGregor
executive
producer
Matthew
Carney
abc.net.au/foreign
Australian
Broadcasting Corporation
© 2019