Sunday 24 April 2011

Are moths good?

I found this little critter amongst my herb planter today.


Now this is where wildlife gets confusing. Will the larvae eat my salad, or will the adult eat the other creatures that eat my salad?

I'm a planner by trade and I now wonder whether the trend for building flats in cities is going to have unintended consequences spawning ignorant masses with little understanding of nature. Because for all I know this eye-catching winged wonder could be a poisonous super moth from southern Spain or somewhere equally hot where other extreme pests used to reside but because of global warming and lax immigration rules are now plying their venomous trade in back gardens across the land. So I need help, and not from the Daily Mail. Is this moth to be welcomed? Or not to be trusted? Indeed, is it actually a butterfly?

3 comments:

Laura said...

Looking forward to the educated answer on this as I too have no idea. What happened to environmental studies at school, perhaps we need an updated version so we get taught the basics. I suspect you will learn from experience so maybe yours in the answer I will await :-)

Nome said...

That's a mint moth! It does technically eat the mint (and a few other herbs, like marjoram and lemon balm) but I always have a few round my plants and they don't seem to do significant damage.

Hapless gardener said...

Lovely, I can sleep without fear of the killer moth or poisoned mint. I did think, for a small thing it was quite striking so I'm glad I can leave it be.

The Hapless Kitchen Gardener

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I only feel hapless because some people make it look easy to grow 10 ft marrows or a banquet of greens whereas my courgettes got nabbed by killer slugs and I only got one raspberry. So tips and stories from people less hapless than I are more than welcome. As a disclaimer though, none of my comments should be taken as expert advice on which you can rely! © Unless stated otherwise, and with the exception of guest content where that guest retains copyright, all photos and posts are the copyright of Tom Carpen and may not be used without permission.