Buglife History

5 Banded weevil wasp (Cerceris quinquefasciata) © Mike Edwards

This vacuum was brought into sharp focus by the creation of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan in 1994, when no existing conservation organisation was willing to become the representative for invertebrate conservation overall.

A series of conferences were held under the banner of 'Unity of Purpose', on the principle that invertebrate conservation is weak if divided among separate groups but would be strengthened if united. As a result a Feasibility Committee was established to look at the details of setting up 'Buglife'. A Statement of Need for a New Organisation was produced.

In February 2000, an initial discussion paper was considered by a team of four potential Buglife Trustees,which resulted in The Invertebrate Conservation Trust being registered as a Company on 29 December 2000.

Red shanked bumblebee (Bombus ruderarius) © Ben Hamers

In November 2000 key organisations were invited to support the establishment of Buglife. Twenty of the leading conservation organisations (including the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts) acknowledged that the conservation movement lacked a major spokesman for invertebrate conservation, and welcomed the establishment of Buglife.

Buglife-The Invertebrate Conservation Trust was registered in December 2000 and its formation was announced with widespread support from the invertebrate and conservation communities at a conference in March 2001.

Buglife became firmly operational in February 2002 when the first staff were appointed, and a public launch was held in April 2004. By this time Buglife had a strong team of Trustees and were pleased to have Germaine Greer as President supported by Nick Baker and Edward O Wilson as Vice-Presidents.

Buglife has gone from strength to strength in the following years gaining credibility and increasing support for invertebrate conservation. In February 2007 Buglife established a Scottish Office in Stirling in partnership with the Initiative for Scottish Invertebrates.