Having spent many summers in Italy, and rejoiced at the appearance of geckos a few years back, this summer most had disappeared (“Where have all the insects gone?”, The Weekend Essay, Life & Arts, August 24).
Their hunting ground was next to a wall-mounted street light. This had been a Mecca for clouds of insects that, I noticed, had also all but disappeared this summer. Also gone, the traditional sodium lightbulb, replaced by a low-energy but sharp white light. These generate less heat, and given that it’s heat not light the insects crave, they no longer make that trek. Sad for the geckos and for us nature lovers.
Elizabeth de Friend
London NW5, UK