London (CNN) – An army of tiny parasitic wasps will be unleashed inside the English mansion where Ana Boleyn was born, in order to hunt and eradicate the moths that threaten the mansion’s furniture and artifacts.
Blickling Hall in Norfolk, eastern England, has failed to contain an invasion of moths, which can be harmful to carpets, furniture, clothing and other wool and silk objects inside the historic home.
But managers believe the creatures will find their peers when they introduce a series of microscopic parasitic wasps into the building.
Wasps – Trichogramma evanescens – measure about 0.5 millimeters and are barely visible to humans.
They look for moth eggs and place their own eggs inside them, so a new wasp hatches instead of a moth larva.
Once their kamikaze mission is completed, the wasps will eventually die and disappear in the dust of the house, say property managers, who believe the pest control attempt is the first of its kind in a historic setting.
“We are really hoping that this pioneering approach will provide a practical and sustainable method that any of our properties can use to deal with serious infestations,” said National Trust’s conservative assistant, Hilary Jarvis, in a statement.
“Although they are rare, (moths) can sometimes be immune to our usual and milder approaches, with potentially serious results.”
The Trust, which manages the property, said the wasps will be provided in small card distributors that can be “discreetly hung or placed in open drawers or rooms”.
Blickling Hall was listed in the 11th-century Domesday Book, Britain’s first public record, and was later owned by Geoffrey Boleyn.
Her granddaughter, Ana Boleyn, is believed to have been born at home. She became Henry VIII’s second ill-fated wife, giving birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I and later being sentenced to death by beheading, after not giving birth to a son to the ruler.
It now receives visitors, but is closed during England’s third national blockade against the coronavirus.
“When we closed all of our homes, we knew that insects were likely to thrive, so pest monitoring was at the top of our list of essential tasks in 2020,” said Jarvis, also citing Britain’s mild winter as a reason for the increase in the number of moths.