London (CNN) – An army of tiny parasitic wasps will be released into the English mansion where Anne Boleyn was born to hunt for and eradicate moths that threaten the mansion’s furniture and artifacts.
Blickling Hall in Norfolk, East England, has been unable to stop an invasion of clothes moths, which can damage the carpets, furniture, clothing and other wool and silk items in the historic house.
But managers believe the critters will meet their match if they introduce a number of microscopic parasitic wasps into the building.
The wasps – Trichogramma evanescens – measure about 0.5 millimeters and are barely visible to humans.
They will look for moth eggs and put their own eggs in them so that a new wasp hatch instead of a moth larva.
Once their kamikaze mission is complete, the wasps will eventually die and disappear into house dust, say property managers, who believe the pest control attempt is the first of its kind in a heritage setting.
“We really hope that this groundbreaking approach will provide a practical and sustainable method that all of our properties can use to deal with serious pests,” National Trust Assistant Curator Hilary Jarvis said in a statement.
“While these are rare, (the moths) can sometimes prove immune to our usual, gentler approaches, with potentially serious results.”
The Trust, which manages the property, said the wasps will be delivered in small card issues that can be “discreetly hung or placed in drawers or open rooms.”
Blickling Hall was mentioned in the 11th-century Domesday Book, Britain’s earliest public record, and later became the property of Geoffrey Boleyn.
His granddaughter, Anne Boleyn, is believed to have been born at home. She became Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife, gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I, and was later put to death by decapitation after not delivering a son to the ruler.
It now welcomes visitors but has been closed during England’s third national coronavirus lockout.
“When we closed all our houses, we knew insects were likely to thrive, so monitoring pests was high on our list of essential tasks in 2020,” said Jarvis, also citing the mild winter in Britain as the reason for this. the growth in the number of moths.