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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Ermine Moth larvae to face Jeyes Fluid?

The councils of counties Cork and Tipperary, were in for a shock when new residents started to spin their new residential structure without planning permission. As it started to take on an almost ghoulish appearance, they decided it is time for action.
with the tourists already here, and many to arrive soon spending their holiday and their precious money in these two counties, councillors debated how best to evict these illegal residents.
Jeyes Fluid is what is needed to eradicate these stubborn individuals.

2010 is the year of Biodiversity, and Irish people were let to believe that Irish authorities would try to improve, preserve and care for our diverse range of habitats, instead of taking them down for development, or even research if some of those could be saved somehow.

This time, however, it seems that not the habitat has to go. It is the habituee which has to be destroyed.

Nature's Calendar ecologist, Paul Whelan at biology.ie allerted us to the decision of the authorities to use Jeyes Fluid to remove the larvae and its webbing from the hedgerows.

Apparently, it is not only hedgerows that a similar species use. Here in the Netherlands the larvae created a real-life fairy tree! Have a look at all the photos regarding the webbed tree. It has been totally stripped bare, and the webbing is hanging down, fastening onto the grass.

Dutch conservationistssaid the cause was a little white Butterfly with black spots.
Sounds like an Ermine Moth to me, if you consider that in Holland they call Moths night butterflies. (which is strange because we remember the word mot to describe a Moth, but apparently that is not used any more. Strange how languages develop.

And if you thought a the hedgerows were bad, have a look at this scene in Rotterdam. Bit of a nightmare when you find this after opening the curtains in the morning. Don't think your boss want you to park that outside his premises!

The Moths are known as Spinsel Butterflies., or Spinning Moths in English. Also known as Spindle Moths, I read somewhere else.




2 comments:

  1. I have to say that the tree in the Netherlands does look like a fairy tree. Very interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I feel sorry for the trees. It takes the colony of Moths 6 weeks to strip and eat all the leaves on that tree.

    The most ironic of the Amsterdam tree is that it is right behind the Artis-the Amsterdam Zoo!

    ReplyDelete

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