My birthday is in 2 weeks, and it since it went so well last year, I've decided to do another fundraiser this year! I really don't like receiving birthday presents, but if you'd like to do something that will make me smile, please consider a donation to the charity I've chosen this year: Buglife.

As many of you know, I have made a career of squashing bugs in software, but (if you hadn't guessed from my constant Facebook posts about them) I am also a bit obsessed with the creepy crawly kind too. Insects and other invertebrates are beautiful and fascinating, often in very surprising ways, but more than that, they are important to the survival of virtually all life on this planet.

"If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world's ecosystems would collapse." -- Sir David Attenborough

 Over the last four decades, there is estimated to have been been a 45% decline in invertebrates globally [1]. Out of 3,623 terrestrial invertebrate species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, 42% are classified as threatened with extinction. This can be devastating to ecosystems that rely on invertebrates for food, pollination, and population control.

Buglife is a charity concerned with reversing this decline, and creating and sustaining habitats that allow invertebrates to thrive and continue contributing to the cycles of life that depend on them. They have several conservation projects in the UK, and their activities range from raising awareness of ecological issues, to running specialty designed habitats and a bug conservation reserve [2]. They also work campaigning for ecological legislation I'm the UK, and helping people understand the impact of laws on invertebrate habitats. Want to know how Brexit might effect insect ecology across Europe? Buglife have you covered [3].

Buglife have had some great successes in recent years, including saving an important invertebrate conservation site, and successfully campaigning to ban a sheep dip chemical that was causing harm to ecosystems that rely on aquatic invertebrates [4].

Anyhow, I've rambled on enough. If you can spare even just a few pounds towards this wonderful charity, you would honestly make my day. And if not, you at least read to here, and now know a bit more about them, so I'm equally happy. Thank you. :)

Edit: at the end of the donation campaign, I will also add own donation of an extra 10% of the total funds raised.

[1] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401
[2] https://www.buglife.org.uk/campaigns-and-our-work/habitats-projects
[3] https://www.buglife.org.uk/sites/default/files/How%20will%20Brexit%20affect%20bugs%20across%20the%20continent.pdf
[4] https://www.buglife.org.uk/campaigns-and-our-work/campaigns