Now the evenings are getting lighter and we’re looking towards the spring, we all need to start thinking about our garden’s light pollution. Many insects and their nocturnal predators such as bats and hedgehogs all lie dormant in the winter, however as they start to wake up as daylight hours increase, did you realise that our seemingly innocent garden lightning, street lights and even light from our windows, can be having a massively detrimental affect on the other creatures that call our town home?

Two-thirds of invertebrates are partially or wholly nocturnal. Out of those insects attracted to light, up to 1/3 die from exhaustion, increased predation and a disrupted ability to navigate. But Increased Artificial Light at Night, known as ALAN can have other detrimental affects to their mating, feeding, development and even their ability to hatch at the right time too. Insects and other invertebrates are vital to our whole ecosystem because they are food to many small carnivorous mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, who are then prey to larger creatures, not to mention a bug’s role in pollination which create the seeds needed for the plants reproduction and food for the herbivores.

The situation is so serious that light pollution is reducing the nocturnal pollinator visits to flowers by 62% in some areas, and surveys in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire showed a reduction of moth caterpillars by about half in lit areas (47% reduction in hedgerows; 33% in grass margins).

Insect populations are experiencing a worrying crash in their numbers due to habitat loss, pollution of rivers and lakes and pesticides too. Remember when you used to have to wash all the squashed bugs from your car windscreen after a journey, or quickly avoid open windows or quickly draw the curtains to avoid moths coming into the house at night?

We’ve seen a noticeable reduction in a very short time and now we urgently need to do something about it. Luckily light pollution is much easier to remedy than many of the other factors associated with their decline; sometimes it’s as simple as flicking a switch.

So what can we do to help? Only light where you need to. Using external lights to move around your garden and in and out of your house makes sense. Leaving then on all night does not. Either turn them off manually before you go to bed, have them on a timer or use a motion sensor. This will help save electricity too.

Only use the brightest light you need. You don’t need “daylight bright” at night, a 9W bulb is usually adequate in a garden: brighter lights create darker shadows and can hide trip hazards. High power LED street lights have come under criticism for being less safe because they provide really dark areas for people to hide in.

Choose “warmer” lights. Blue-violet light is more harmful to invertebrates and disrupts our sleep patterns more. Amber lighting is less harmful to wildlife and gives a cosier glow.

Shield your lights. Direct your lights only to places you need helps stop casting light into trees, hedges and even up into the night sky. Draw the curtains and blinds at night when you turn lights on inside, this includes velux windows that are often forgotten.

Spread the word. We need everyone to help, so please talk about it to friends, family and neighbours. Imagine if we could see more stars at night in urban areas how lovely that would be! Contact your elected officials. This includes parish and local councillors as well as our MP.

Parliament needs to add a target to reduce light pollution into the new environment act 2021 to help reach the goals agreed in COP15. It would also be a great step towards reaching net zero if all harsh 3000k-4000k street lights were switched to amber 2200K shielded LEDs; they use 30% to 50% less energy. Currently, the UK is one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world, where almost one in 10 species are at risk of extinction, so we all need to act to save wildlife now, and with insects being the basis of the food chain, making the relatively quick and easy changes to reduce light pollution is a very good place to start.