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the next day.At first I wondered if it was pilfering the guinea pig’s spilled food, but now I think it’s after moths.Although the weather is still warm and comfortable through the evenings, the nights are already drawing in and where before I was working

all over south London, caused by caterpillars of the tiny moth Cameraria ohridella. Sure enough, the maple was growing right next door to a horse-chestnut so heavily attacked that it had browned prematurely for autumn.It turns out that this recent

Dulwich). All ichneumons are parasitic, laying their eggs in a wide range of insects, but especially moth and butterfly caterpillars. The venom injected at the same time contains an immunosuppressant, preventing the immune system of the host insect from

the upper regions of the compost food-chain, feeding on the clouds of fruit flies, moth flies and other small insects that devour the endless cascade of banana skins and potato peels. I'm not sure what species they are, but I'll keep an eye out to see what

and dropped to the floor. And yesterday the cats brought in a huge black and grey moth - the old lady, Mormo maura - which fluttered around the kitchen ceiling until rescued.Wednesday also brought the first large cabbage white butterfly of the year. I don

in the long grass and herbage (away from flowers) for moth caterpillars in which to lay its eggs. This is the first time I've seen it in the garden. It sunned itself for a few seconds, then it was off.

are the larvae of a micro-moth, probably one of the many Coleophora species. Only about 5mm long, they're hidden in a sock-like bag of silk covered in bits of debris and lichen, which camouflage the creatures against the bark.A white aphid proves to be a dead

is widespread across southern and central England, usually in oak woods, but is scarce or at least seldom seen, probably because it is a well-camouflaged tree-dweller. Apparently it flies at night and sometimes appears in lights used for moth

to feed on Fallopia. The hope is that it will have the same effect here, controlling Fallopia, as the Mexican moth Cactoblastis had when it was deliberately introduced to Australia to combat the insidious weed spread of prickly pear cactus, originally from

, they are so numerous in there that their maggots can work through several bucketloads of kitchen waste each week.These are sometimes joined by the smaller, but more delicately fluffy 'moth flies'. I haven't tried to identify these little creatures, even though