On 11th June 2025 a group of us, all orchard enthusiasts in various ways & members of the Cornwall Orchard Network, headed back to Haye Cider Farm with invertebrate expert Keith Alexander and Paul Gainey (multi species expert). Here at the orchard we repeated a survey that we carried out in September of the previous year. The aim being to survey at a time of year when the trees were in more active growth and see if a larger proportion of species could be found.
The full report can be downloaded below, but here a few excerpts from this report as compiled by Keith Alexander including significant finds from Paul Gainey also.
The highlights of the visit were four characteristic orchard species:
- Old galleries of Large Fruit Bark Beetle Scolytus mali had been noted during last year’s September visit but, following recent storms and the resulting freshly snapped branches of some of the apple trees, fresh galleries were seen this time as well as those of Small Fruit Bark Beetle S. rugulosus. As noted in my previous report, Hayes Farm Orchard is one of only two known sites in Cornwall for S. mali. No signs of S. rugulosus were found last year, but this is a better-known species in the county, with records from six other sites. This does suggest that the larger species is much more localised in the county as the smaller one will be relatively under-recorded.
- Last September only a single Apple Blossom Weevil Anthonomus pomorum was found but it was much more evident this visit, with one or two specimens found on quite a few of the apple trees. Its discovery in Haye Orchard in 2024 was the first report from Cornwall since 1935.
- Larval webs of Apple Ermine Moth Yponomeuta malinellus were spotted on several of the apple trees. The larvae feed gregariously. They are known to cause problems for apple trees up-country but there are notably few reports of the species in Cornwall, where adult moths have been found at light traps in six other localities. So far as we are aware this is the first time that the larvae have been found in the county. It seems unlikely that this moth would be a cause for concern here in Cornwall.
