Moths and Robins

MOTHS

From March 2016 to March 2017 we caught 158 clothes moths on sticky pheromone pads when we had thought to have almost eliminated them.

Moths, being nocturnal, we had not realised that they were so numerous.

There were not many “catches” during the winter months, but with the onset of spring, carcasses began to adorn new sticky pads.

I feel that if we persevere, then both male and female numbers will be much reduced or eliminated. Our woollen clothes will then no longer be tasty food for their maggots.

ROBINS

We like a tame robin in the garden. And we like it to join us in the shed (a small summerhouse) to eat grated Cheddar cheese from our home-designed feeder and perhaps to stand on my knee.

But robins die off or are eaten by cats, and new ones have to be trained.

Our friendly bird of last year disappeared in the autumn, and its place was taken by a very wild one, probably a blow-in from Scandinavia.

The chances of training this new arrival before we closed the shed for the winter were slim. But just before the cold weather set in we managed it. We had made friends. Then the shed was closed until the spring. Would it remember its training?

All was well. It continued to fly in for cheese. Our new robin turned out to be female by making a nest nearby and sitting on eggs. And even her rather scruffy mate has come in for a bite. 

Mo