Pheromone traps should not be a threat to wildlife

For some years before Agralan launched codling moth traps into the home and garden market they had been widely used in commercial orchards for monitoring, so initially the same design of trap was used.

As use in the garden increased, an instance of a bird getting entangled in the glue was reported, causing considerable upset to the gardener concerned. The first of these instances was reported to us by the RSPCA. After consultation with the RSPCA and the RSPB, who agreed that the use of these traps had positive benefits to wildlife, we re-designed the trap to minimise the risk to birds.

A new design of trap with restricted opening was then trialled to compare the efficacy with the old trap. These trials were successful and after further consultation with the RSPB the trap was modified. Now the instances of birds being caught now are rare and are usually caused by the gardener not following the instructions or where a dying fledgling blue tit had managed to crawl into the trap.

The risk to birds has now been reintroduced by a company selling pheromone traps using the old design. It is our fear that the instances of birds being caught will rise significantly. This will result in a number of upset gardeners who will in turn blame the retailers who supply the product and cause adverse publicity which will reflect on the use of pheromone traps in general. This may in turn cause an upturn in use of insecticides in the garden which will reduce the food supply of certain types of wildlife.

We feel that it is important that retailers and gardeners should be aware of this potential problem.

For more information visit www.gardening-naturally.com