Lights out: can we stop glow-worms and fireflies fading away?

<p>From night walks with children to switching off streetlights and rewilding areas, naturalists are working to save Europe’s dwindling populations </p><p>An hour or so after sunset, green twinkles of possibility gleam beneath the hedgerows of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset. Under an orange August moon, the last female glow-worms of the season are making one final push at finding a mate.</p><p>For almost 20 years, Peter Bright and other volunteers have combed the village’s shrubberies and grasslands, searching for the bioluminescent beetles as part of the <a href="https://www.glowworms.org.uk/">UK glow-worm survey</a>. Most years, they have counted between 100 and 150, rising to 248 in 2017.</p><p>Ben Cooke, a National Trust ranger, places a glow-worm trap near Winspit Quarry in Dorset. Photograph: P Flude/Guardian</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/07/conservation-endangered-insects-glow-worms-firefies-europe-dwindling-populations">Continue reading...</a>