I never expected a later-life love affair. But a few years ago, I was commissioned to write a book on garden insects and the earth moved. All of a sudden, I realised that my garden wasn’t just full of six-legged aliens, but characters, all with stories to tell, some of which were often bizarre and others hilarious. A few metres from my backdoor a glittering new world of intrigue opened up.

Now that it is spring, this world is awakening and the stories are piling up and moving on fast. As I have become familiar with more insects, the joy of the encroaching season becomes richer still, and more entrancing. Already we have hummingbird tribute acts flying around the spring flowers, bee flies with their hovering flight and long beaks, as fluffy as a child’s toy. Soon their larvae will hatch and grow into child-killers, brutalising the nests of solitary bees.

We have spring butterflies, orange-tips that might have survived by cannibalising their peers, and brimstones, veterans of months of hibernation, now in a state of age-defying breeziness and friskiness.

The bees are out – not just the corporate honeybees, but the mid-sized bumblebee colonies and the sole-trading solitary bees. The latter are bastions of feminine power, powerhouses of pollination, founded and largely run by females. It being spring, the cuckoos are here, too. These are cuckoo bees, which like the birds mimic their hosts and lay eggs in their nests. And they make an unusually loud buzz.

The months ahead will become a blur, the insect news desk will pile up with drama. The race to survive takes strange and wonderful turns. The lacewing’s larvae tear into aphids and decorate their bodies with corpses sucked dry, as a form of camouflage. Moths get itchy feet and migrate, using the stars for navigation. Dung flies use the freshest, runniest dung as no less a romantic dancefloor than a human village hall.

Those big, glamorous dragonflies, especially the emperor, hatch out to become the world’s most dangerous apex predator, their success rate for snatching prey in midair topping 95%, the highest of any animal.

Aphids take reproduction to scarcely believable levels. By parthenogenesis, a female aphid can give birth to a youngster that is itself already pregnant; unchecked by predation, aphids would fill the earth in a few weeks.

At the same time, earwigs take time to look after their young, nurturing them in a burrow for many weeks and attending to their needs, keeping them warm and clean.

One of the great themes of insect life is parasitism. It is thought that 40% of all insect species are parasitic, many of which are parasitoids, eventually killing their hosts or their young. Some are impossibly glamorous. See a cuckoo wasp, with its lustrous iridescence, dazzling green and pink, and it will make you gasp. The glittering exoskeleton is specially thickened in case its attempt to lay eggs in a wasp’s breeding chamber is intercepted.

Another parasite, a fly, lays eggs inside snails and the larvae eat their way out while it is still alive. Another wasp turns ladybirds into the living dead. Some parasites are themselves plagued by parasites.

This is, of course, drama in miniature, but insects are also the indicators of immense problems. Many are declining, putting pollination in jeopardy and sending warning of dangers not yet known. A host of new species are making their way north and colonising Britain because of climate change, a danger only too well known. The insects’ world is our world, however peculiar these neighbours of ours can be.

In the end, the insects need be heard, and their stories need to be told. Loving them is optional.

Cast your vote for the UK invertebrate of the year here

A North Atlantic right whale has been spotted entangled in rope off New England, worsening an already devastating year for the vanishing animals, federal authorities said.

Right whales number less than 360 and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships. The entangled whale was seen on Wednesday about 50 miles (80km) south of Rhode Island’s Block Island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.

The mammal has rope coming out of both sides of its mouth but its distant location is making it difficult for rescuers to help, the NOAA said.

“Given the long distance from shore, experts were unable to safely travel to the last known location during daylight to attempt a rescue,” a statement said. “NOAA Fisheries and our partners will monitor this whale and attempt to respond … if possible, as weather and safety conditions allow.”

Several right whales have died this year off Georgia and Massachusetts, and environmental groups fear the species could be headed for extinction.

A whale found dead off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in January showed evidence of injury from entanglement in fishing gear. Environmental groups have called for stricter rules; however, a federal budget package passed in late 2022 included a six-year pause on new federal whale regulations.

“This is another example that entanglements are happening in US waters,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director with environmental group Oceana. “We need stronger protection[s].”

The whales were once numerous off the east coast, but they were decimated during the commercial whaling era and have been slow to recover, despite federal protection for decades.

They migrate every year from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. The journey has become more perilous in recent years because their food sources appear to be moving as waters warm amid the climate crisis.

That change causes the whales to stray from protected areas of ocean and become vulnerable to entanglements and collisions, scientists have said.

A study published last year said that climate change-induced warming in the Gulf of Maine was acutely endangering the right whale.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to be the executive producers of two new nonfiction Netflix series focusing on lifestyle and polo.

One show will explore “the joys of cooking, gardening, entertaining and friendship”, while the other will give “unprecedented access to the world of professional polo” and the US Open Polo Championship in Florida, Netflix said.

The shows will be made by Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Productions company, with the duchess to produce both series and the duke to work on the polo series. Both are in the early stages of production with titles and release dates to be announced in the coming months.

“Known primarily for its aesthetic and social scene, the series will pull the curtain back on the grit and passion of the sport, capturing players and all it takes to compete at the highest level,” Netflix said of the polo series.

The Sussexes have previously released three documentaries with Netflix as part of a multimillion-pound deal with the streaming giant.

Heart of Invictus, which aired last August, followed a group of service members on their road to the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style sporting competition set up by Harry in 2014 for injured and sick military personnel and veterans.

Netflix also released the documentary series Live to Lead and the controversial six-part Harry & Meghan documentary in December 2022.

In the latter, the duke and duchess shed light on their troubled life within the royal family, accusing Kensington Palace of lying to protect William, and Charles, now king, of lying at the Megxit summit.

Archewell Productions, formed by the couple in 2020, is “dedicated to illuminating thought-provoking and diverse narratives that underscore our common humanity and celebrate community”, according to the company’s website.

Harry and Meghan moved to the US in 2020 after stepping down from royal duties.