Saturday 11 June 2016

Garden Diamond-back Scheme

I ran my trap as usual for the GMS, last night. It rained cats and dogs (21mm) overnight, but the temperature didn't drop below 13C.
The catch of mainly Heart and Dart and the Flame, was pretty mediocre, but the real feature was the huge numbers of Diamond-back moths. On Thursday, down at Pwll Waun Cynon, we had 36, which seemed a good number, but nothing prepared me for what I faced this morning. The vanes of the garden trap were dotted with them,  and inside was teaming.
In all I counted 299 outside, inside and on the egg boxes, but a huge number (probably well over a hundred) flew out, as the trap was opened and more flew off uncounted as I processed the catch. For recording purposes, I added 101, to bring the total to a round 400, but the actual number present was probably nearer 500; possibly on the upper side of that. Everywhere I look in the garden, there are Diamond-backs looking back at me!

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