Acrylic on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

The doodling on my painting reminded me of the tracks insects and worms leave on the ground, on timber and on leaves and other plant parts.

It got me thinking about the importance of insects, particular in relation to the current concerns about the destruction of our environment.

There are 1.4 billion insects per person on this planet and we need almost every one of them.

Insects are crucial components of many ecosystems, where they perform many important functions.
They pollinate crops we rely on as food and aerate the soil. Many insects, especially beetles, are scavengers, feeding on dead animals, dung and fallen trees, thereby recycling nutrients back into the soil.
Also more than a quarter of the world's population eats insects.
Today, many species are faced with extinction, due to changing climate change, alteration of their habitat and widespread use of chemicals. The varroa virus is affecting bee populations to the extent that bees are imported from varroa-free areas to pollinate crops, particularly almonds.