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“I think hedgerows being taken out of agricultural fields, development in general, using pesticides – it really has effected their numbers,” he added.
There are at least 1,500 pollinating insect species in the UK, according to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).
These include species of bees, wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and some beetles.
A study published in 2019 in the journal Nature Communications revealed a widespread loss of pollinating insects over the last few decades.
The data looked at 353 wild bee and hoverfly species and found that the insects had been lost from a quarter of the places they were found in 1980.
The study was based on more than 700,000 sightings of the insects made by volunteers across the UK from 1980 to 2013.
Mr Hankinson also explained that wildlife and pollinators play a vital role in the natural ecosystem, providing food for mammals and birds.
Worryingly, pollinators also play a huge role in our food chain too.
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