For days I have found no caterpillars on the box hedges, and there seems
to be a good deal of new growth on the plants which bodes well; I’m told you should
give the hedges a bit of a water at the base if they are to recover from an infestation.
I did find a moth yesterday – it fluttered out of the bush straight into my
hands where, I’m afraid, it met its end. The pheromone trap has also captured a
couple. It does seem that this infestation is over, but box moth is endemic to
southeast England now so they will almost certainly be back at some stage.
Meanwhile my three remaining adult fish are now massive, and I am wondering
whether I will need a bigger pond! The water has gone bright green, but the
fish don’t seem to mind this; in fact I think they may quite like it as they
are venturing out a bit in the daytime, perhaps feeling a bit more secure in
the murk than they would if the water was nice and clear. It means that I don’t
know where the two juvenile fish are, and I don’t want to clear the water out
until the Autumn when – if they are indeed still there – they may be a bit
bigger and I won’t miss them!
When people talk about planting more trees to combat climate change I
always reflect that my problem is stopping them. My garden is perpetually in
danger of being overrun by unplanned hazels, oaks, ashes and sycamores. There
is no tree I love more than the rowan, but that seems to seed in the least convenient places too: the other day I pulled one out of a crack in the
tarmac of my drive. I’m going to leave the copper beech seedling near the top
steps: it’s made quite a journey to be there, as there aren’t any copper
beeches anywhere nearby.
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