Artificial light has a greater effect on the lifecycle of insects than you may realise. Everyone has seen how moths get drawn to a light trying to navigate by the moonlight – a study by ‘Biological Conservation’ reported one-third of insects trapped in the orbit of such lights die before morning, either through exhaustion or being eaten. Spiders, bats and rats have all been found feeding around artificial lights.

The best course of action to avoid this is to have an outside light that acts on a motion sensor. When it turns off, the insect has a chance to escape its lure, not only helping to save insects, but also saving electricity. You can also buy good solar-powered ones.

The complexity of these fascinating insects means it’s not just the obvious ways that they are affected – more general light pollution in towns and cities can affect insects like the dung beetle, which uses starlight to navigate.

The mating process and development of juvenile insects can be affected by light pollution too, as their bodies are adapted to respond to the perception of day and night. Some insects require darkness to hunt, or it can make insects think dusk is later than it is, leaving them vulnerable to cold, or meaning night pollinators miss the opening of flowers.

You may have noticed how fewer insects come in the window in the summer, or fewer now mass round lights than when you were younger. However more convenient it may seem in the short term, these are signs of a huge collapse in insects that has been reported by 150 studies worldwide – and we need to care because insects are the basis of all other life on this planet, and they pollinate our crops, too.

Unlike other drivers of insect decline, such as habitat loss and pesticides, this is a reasonably easy one to reduce – if everyone just switched off unnecessary lights, drew the curtains and had their outside lights on a motion sensor. Avoiding blue-white lights, which interfere with daily rhythms, would be another step to improve.

LED lights also offer hope as they can be tuned to avoid harmful colours and flicker rates. Unnatural colours of light have been shown to prevent parasitic wasps finding their victims, leading to an increase of ‘pests’, and an imbalance in the ecosystem.

Raising public awareness of the problem, and individuals petitioning our councils and governments to reduce the amount of street lighting would all help – one active petition where you can add your voice is ‘put this light out’ on change.org https://www.change.org/p/brighton-and-hove-albion-fc-put-that-light-out or maybe create your own!

HELEN GILLINGHAM