An unwanted second county record

 Most of us like making a significant first, second or third new county records for our respective counties. On 18/10 (Tuesday night) the garden actinic trap went out and the captures examined the next morning. Underneath one of the lowest egg cartons a rather distinctive moth was resting. It was Cydalima perspectalis, better known as the the box-tree moth, an adventive (the literature says from Asia) and not known in the British Isles until 2008. It is now spreading rapidly with the first Carmarthenshire record being made at Pontyberem by Chris Manley a couple of years or so ago.

It is very unpopular with gardeners due to the huge disfigurement its caterpillars can cause to box hedges - hence my mixed feelings about catching one in my garden where I have a very useful (for privacy reasons) tall box hedge along c 15ft of my garden boundary.

Above: Both`beauty and a beast`, the box-tree moth -it has a lovely purple hue to its wings. I released it over a mile eastwards from my home in a vain attempt to delay the inevitable colonisation of my garden. George Tordoff tells me that he catches multiples in his Cardiff garden and that, this year, signs of damage to box hedges is becoming locally significant.