They say bee populations are shrinking in some countries. There was a time when car radiators and windscreens were splattered with grasshoppers, butterflies, beetles etc. Went across north NSW during past weeks and got 2 bugs per day.
Anyone notice this happening?

Bee populations are declining rapidly, which is actually one of the biggest issues the human race faces right now.
Does seem you use to get a lot more on your windscreen tho.

Published on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 by Common Dreams. "Silent Spring Dawns Hot, Dry and Merciless"
by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez
[This week, turning the corner into the astronomical Spring, we have gone abruptly from warm winter to hot summer.  And I mean hot: it was 84 degrees Farenheit in western Massachusetts today, brightly sunny, with puffy white cumulus clouds against a brilliant blue sky, unobstructed by any leaves.  No shade.

Today reminded me of a wax model: beautiful but blank.  The façade of beauty, with the crucial vital spark missing.

When I went for a walk up the mountain early this morning, the woods were eerily silent.  I remembered mournfully the spring mornings of my childhood, where I would be awakened by the joyful singing of the dawn chorus of thousands of birds each happily greeting each other and the new day.

Reaching the top of the mountain having heard only the distant cry of a single phoebe, I stopped to sit on a rock and listen for a few minutes.  .Coming down again, a few chipmunks hurried out of sight along the path, and I was keenly aware that there were no acorns underfoot, despite the oak trees towering overhead. Last fall was a terrible year for acorns, so all the animals that depend on them for overwintering must be very hungry now.  I know the bears are on the move, as one came and pulled down my bird feeder yesterday. I am thinking of bringing some sunflower seeds along on my walk tomorrow, to spread by the path as an offering of atonement.

Will there come a day when the sun rises in the brilliant blue sky and looks down on a hot, dry planet, silent except for the hardiest of species, like the cockroaches and the ants, who survived previous major extinction events, and will once again continue about their business single-mindedly, able to wait out the eons while life reboots and resurges again anew?]

I'm still getting radiator splatter here in Central Qld, but most of it seems to be moths.

The bee problem is worldwide. In the US they have suffered an enormous decline in bee populations - something like 96% from memory. Here in Australia, it's not quite that bad - about 40% or so. It's possibly due to increased pesticide use, but one effect is that many food crops are now lacking pollinators.  In the US, lack of genetic diversity in honey bees and susceptibility to disease are also considered important factors.

It comes down to commercial bee keepers using bees that are best for productivity. They replace the natural stock, but they are too genetically similar.