Art in support of conservation

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click on the letters to discover more about the objects

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“So important are insects and other land dwelling arthropods, that if all were to disappear, humanity probably could not last more than a few months”.

E.O. Wilson, ‘The Diversity of Life’ (1992).

Insect populations are in crisis and their abundance is in rapid decline worldwide. It is estimated that up to 44,000 varieties of insects and other minibeasts have already been lost from the face of the Earth over the last 600 years. Today, some 3,000 insects are known to be vulnerable, endangered or at risk of extinction. This graphic shows the threatened species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

Amongst the millions of kinds of insects on the planet, most have never been studied. It is thought that about 10% of all insects that exist are threatened with extinction. We can stop, and even reverse the global declines in our insects, if we make changes to how we consume and live our lives. What could you do to save insects and other bugs?

Selection of insects which are endangered or extinct from the British Isles.

Manchester Museum

“Like it or not, insects are part of where we have come from, what we are now, and what we will be.”

M.R. Berenbaum, ‘Bugs in the system’ (1995).

Twenty years ago, the Fen Raft Spider (Dolomedes plantarius) had only been found at three sites in Britain and was under threat of extinction. Ecologist Dr Helen Smith spearheaded conservation of this large, handsome spider for many years, even hand-rearing and releasing thousands of spiderlings to bring it back from the brink of extinction. Her collaboration with fine artist Sheila Tilmouth shows how visual art can tell the story of a charismatic creature that few of us will get to see in its natural habitat.

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Fen Raft Spiders collected during the survey by Eric Duffey, the scientist who discovered this species living in the UK in 1958.

Manchester Museum, G7572

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On the Margins

Artist: Sheila Tilmouth

Medium: oil painting

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Fen Raft Spider with egg sac

Artist: Sheila Tilmouth

Medium: wood engraving

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Book on the conservation story of the Fen Raft Spider resulting from the collaboration between the scientist, Helen Smith, and the artist, Sheila Tilmouth.

“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,

One clover, and a bee.

And revery.

The revery alone will do

If bees are few.”

Emily Dickinson (1830-86), poet

Bees and humans need each other. For thousands of years, our lives have been intertwined. Bees are the most important pollinators of our crops and most wild flowers. But now they are in trouble, we are in trouble.

Bee numbers are falling across the world. Threats include death and harm from fertilizers and synthetic pesticides; habitat loss through changing land use, urbanisation and monoculture farming; and a parasitic mite called the Varroa which can kill a whole colony of the honeybee in 2-3 years.

From ancient Egypt to the city of Manchester, bees have been used as powerful symbols; of industry and cooperation, purity, cleanliness and wisdom. Today, in Manchester the bee is a symbol for resilience and community, and worldwide, the plight of the bee has come to stand for the wider threat to nature and biodiversity.

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