Thank you all. In a way I am relieved @Nel_Staffs that it isn't a Prionoxystus robiniae which is the equivalent American and what I fear is a new introduction here. I have contacted the forest management ministry and nature organisations, they might come back to me.
I could not find anything on European websites about it so hopefully this is something already here and not a new imported one. Certainly it looks more like a leopard moth. Here's hope ....
No damage to the tree (except that branch) but I am keeping a close eye around the bark for telltale signs of sawdust.
It seems there are a number of moth larvae, that specialise in eating stems and roots rather than leaves. Some are often referred to as cutworms, even though they are not worms at all. I nearly "lost" an acer when one eat into the main trunk, the only way I knew what it caused the damage was because I found the outer case of the chrysalis it had emerged from.
The larvae of the wood leopard moth burrow into the stems and small branches of trees, spending 2 to 3 years hidden inside. Theres quite a list, on Wikipedia, of host trees known to be damaged by the larvae.
Beth Chatto: “you may look but you will not see, without the knowledge to direct your mind”
My friendly neighbourhood tree surgeon says: customers do not look above 4 feet.
He's right, I don't, or not often enough. Today, alerted to Amelanchier flowering whilst mine I thought was not, I looked up and there were the flowers. A bit difficult to see looking from shade into bright sky. I must prune it back so that it flowers at eye height.
I also learnt about Fly Bees (or wwere they Bee Flies?) on a recent post. Today I saw my first one ever.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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I could not find anything on European websites about it so hopefully this is something already here and not a new imported one. Certainly it looks more like a leopard moth. Here's hope ....
No damage to the tree (except that branch) but I am keeping a close eye around the bark for telltale signs of sawdust.
Luxembourg
But do you know what sort of damage these moths/larvae do? And to what hosts? If not I can do my own research.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Beth Chatto: “you may look but you will not see, without the knowledge to direct your mind”
My friendly neighbourhood tree surgeon says: customers do not look above 4 feet.
He's right, I don't, or not often enough. Today, alerted to Amelanchier flowering whilst mine I thought was not, I looked up and there were the flowers. A bit difficult to see looking from shade into bright sky. I must prune it back so that it flowers at eye height.
I also learnt about Fly Bees (or wwere they Bee Flies?) on a recent post. Today I saw my first one ever.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."