WHITE ERMINE

When I was a boy and lived in the same village where I find myself living now, I was always obsessed with lepidoptera and one of the most fertile spots for hunting said creatures was not the hedgerows and fields; not the lanes and woodlands but the wall of the village shop.

The village shop (which in those days was owned by a couple called Paddon), had (and indeed still has) whitewashed walls and there are two large street lamps, which cast great pools of light upon the walls.

These used to provide a perfect moth trap and each morning, as I queued up outside the shop for the school bus, I would check the walls for moths. The most common was this: the white ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda). This chunky medium-sized moth is allegedly quite common over most of Britain, and produces hairy caterpillars that eat a variety of weeds and garden plants, and I have always thought of it as being one of the species that is synonymous with Woolsery.

The only trouble is that I haven't seen one here for years. Although I check the walls, the village shop no longer acts as an attractor for moths and although other species (a considerably smaller viaiety, however) still glide silently across the North Devon night, there ain't no white ermines and I have grieved the fact for the past four years.

Then, once again, Greg came to the rescue. Greg is my ten year old Godson who, unlike so many boys of his age, still catches butterflies and moths (although his collection involves a digital camera rather than a setting board). Greg was the first to photograph one of the painted ladies a few weeks back and now he is the first to catch, photograph and release white ermines. Thank you Greg, my dear. You have restored my faith in nature, both human and otherwise....