has been the box tree moth .
I’ve had dozens in the light trap in June and July .
An invasive species from the continent, they have devastated box bushes . They are gregarious in their first couple of weeks as a larvae spinning webs amongst the young leaves of box bushes , this makes them very difficult to dislodge amongst your plants .
You have my permission to kill everyone you see .
There is also a melanic form now
I’m partway through removing all of our box shrubs and hedges - I generally love moths, but these fucking things… They took longer to arrive than I expected, but it’s pointless trying to ‘fight’ them. Replacing the box with Japanese holly and bush Loniceras instead - until something arrives that eats those!
Biosecurity is the main issue with a lot of invasives - we should stop importing plants that are not fully treated and quarantined. Fat fucking chance of that of course, and the genie’s already out of the bottle with a lot of nasty stuff…
When we came back from holiday at the end of July I found that our local hedgehog had decided to give birth in a bucket under my outside kitchen.
After making them a proper run , we have been looking after them and will hopefully release them next Sunday
Young raccoons, spotted a third running across the road as I was approaching then stumbled upon these two.
They’re all old enough to be on their own, their mother would have long abandoned them, they’ll be looking for their own winter shelters and mates soon
What’s with all the sodding tiny white flies this year? We’ve been plagued with all kinds of flies all year long, houseflies, bluebottles, fruit flies and now trillions of these little white cunts.
Cabbage Whitefly - actually in the bug family - plant-sucking pests that are booming because of the weather and the enormous amount of brassics that have gone to seed in fields everywhere due to low quality and lack of demand. Little swines are everywhere this year.