I`ve noticed an increase of box-tree moth records in my Llanelli garden trap over the last couple of years, with any reduction in 2024 simply due to me trapping less. I have a short length (c 15ft+) of tall box, planted in c 1980, which performs a valuable privacy screen as well as a nesting site for birds. It is only very lightly pruned in the winter and is not tightly manicured. I had hoped that this exceptionally light regime, when the cursed box moths are n`t around, may save my boxes from their rapacious caterpillars. This summer, I noticed a low box bush in a private garden at Stradey, Llanelli that had been decimated by box moth caterpillars - the box looks whiteish in colour with webbing, the result of eating frenzies and the webs in which the caterpillars reside.
A few weeks later I discovered a couple of caterpillars by some diagnostic white leaves on my boxes. These caterpillars were removed and I hoped that was it (for now, at least). However, whilst up lopping some branches on an adjacent tree last week, I noticed several hitherto unnoticed ex-larval `nests`. I`m afraid that they have likely defeated my efforts and disproved my hope that minimal winter pruning may avoid their colonisation. We`ll wait and see to what extent they`ll damage my old box hedge in 2025.
Above: one my August box moth caterpillars in situ.
Above: a graph prepared by George Tordoff showing this species` rapid increase in part of Cardiff.