Moths in decline

There are far fewer moths than there used to be, says Val

- Val Bourne

THE Best Beloved and I have been together for more than 20 years, and when we moved in together he arrived with his possessions – one battered cardboard box and a cat that had just disgraced herself in his car. He does not do ‘stuff’, so buying him a birthday present is fraught with difficulty. The moth trap I gave him a year or so ago hasn’t been a universal success, but occasionally I set it up in order to see what’s flying around.

One thing’s for sure – there are far fewer moths out there than there used to be. When my mother did the washing on Friday evenings, because she worked, she opened the back door and we were invaded by moths galore. That was the 1950s, but it’s very different now. We set up our trap and caught 100 moths on a sultry night in late June when it was calm and moonless. Considering there are 2,500 species in the UK and that we have just had an amazing spring, 100 months isn’t very many.