Winging it

• English Heritage, which shares the National Trust’s concerns over moth damage, recorded a 216% increase in the webbing- or common-moth population between 2012 and 2016

• This country is home to some 2,500 moth species and all save the two clothes moths are deemed beneficial

• The case-bearing moth—which produces larvae that wrap themselves in the material on which they dine—is believed to have resided in the UK at least since Roman times

• In the original Hebrew and Greek Biblical texts, clothes moths symbolised impermanence, the Scriptures recognising moth destruction both in the Old Testament (Job: ‘Man decays like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten’) and the New (Matthew: ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and destroy’)

• Regular vacuuming, deep-cleaning and dry-cleaning of household fabrics are required to tackle a domestic infestation of clothes moths. David Loughlin also advises that infested clothes should go into the freezer for two weeks at -20˚C or in the washing machine at 60˚C for half an hour (low temperatures will not kill moth larvae)

• Cedar-oil blocks, dried lavender and airtight storage all help, but traditional moth balls—containing toxic, inflammable and smelly naphthalene—were banned in 2008

• Several moth species find homes in birds’ nests, including a close relative of the clothes moth, Tinea trinotella, which looks similar, but has three wing spots