Where are all the butterflies and ladybirds?

Photo of Elaine on her visit to the shelter, she has our old cat "Fatticat "! in her arms and is meeting Marigold , Suzy took a lovely photo of Marigold and Melba which I had to show.These two ponies get on so well together. Marigold came from a home where she had been in a field on her own for 12 years, had no handling and no pony companionship either.Her owner could not handle her and certainly when she came here, she was very skittish and nervous.She still is not the most placid of ponies but so much better now.Melba came to us one winter, we had heard of a pony kept in a small stable for the whole winter and the owners were happy to hand her over to us.When she arrived she galloped round and round the fields for hours.Her joy was wonderful to behold. No wonder she was happy - she had a field at her old home but they would not let her in it in case she got dirty!!!
I had a call from Horse and Rider magazine, they are considering my letter for publication and wanted some photos.I hope they do decide to print it.
It is lovely here today, the sun is shining and it is really warm, I was talking to Roy who runs our charity shop in Caernarfon and we were discussing the lack of butterflies seen last year. There is a definite decrease in much of our wildlife.
Last night there was an article in the Mail about the disappearance of many birds due mainly to the change of climate and I was shocked at the statistics.Apparently there is a 50 percent decline in the numbers of cuckoos in the UK. The shelter is in Lon Pant-y-gog which in English means Cuckoo Dip lane and each April their distinctive call announces the arrival of Spring.Will I hear it this year? Another creature I rarely see now are ladybirds and frogs.A few years ago we had a massive influx of frogs around the shelter.I spent days rescuing them from the cats and from the animal water bowls, they were everywhere, it was difficult to even walk without dodging them underfoot.The last two years I have only seen a very small number and no ladybirds at all.I remember reading a book, I think it was in the sixties, a book called Silent Spring by Rachael Carson.At the time she was thought to have very radical views,her book told of the disastrous effect pesticides were having on the balance of nature, that sooner or later there would be no birdsong heard and how right she was, that combined with climate change has changed the countryside as we knew it. One can only hope that her prophecy will not come true completely.