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Pine processionary caterpillar time soon again!!


Jonzjob
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In which case you are one of several things Mr/s Dog?

1. A person who is being very sparing with the truth.

2. A person who has not picked up a pine processionary caterpillar.

3. A very lucky person who is not affected by the chemical contained in the hairs of this caterpillar.

These things can cause heart failure to certain people with certain heart conditions. They can cause blindness, temporary and permanent, they kill dogs and cats, they cause very bad injuries to children!

You go ahead and handle as many as you want. I will do just that with all that I find and I will burn them so don't tell me what to do about them. The only difference between you and me it seems is that I will wear gloves and treat them very carefully.

Don't teach your children your ways or you may just regret the outcome?

Funnly enough it is just as well that your signature is only just that because if you really were a dog you would try to eat these things because of the pheremone they give off and they would give you a VERY painful death with a gangrenous tounge and mouth and a swollen throat so that you couldn't breath. Happy dreams my friend?

Am I over reacting?

P.S. I forgot to mention the economic damage they cause to the pine forests. Lots of it!

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Hey JJ, ça va?  I think we're all being wound up by Monsieur Chien - we've got loads of nests coming down here too and they're the only creatures I'll let the OH get rid of (well, I even rescue flies, wasps + beetles from the pool whenever poss to let the wee b*ggers come + pester me again).  I suffer greatly from the hairs of the PP caterpillars - even using a long-handled brush + covered shovel/dustpan thingy and standing upwind when I'm collecting them (to be thrown on the burner), I end up with huge red spots all round my neck/face + any other uncovered bits - I usually have to take a couple of anti-histamine to help combat the allergic reaction (luckily, they're always on hand, due to my allergy to cats - yeah, I know!!!).
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I cannot see your problem its only that males that give off the pheremones.

They cause very little problems leave them alone - humans are a bigger nuisance.

Not much else lives in or amongst pine trees they are a necessary part of the scenery.

Good news is you are a bit late as near me they were out and about two weeks ago and I haven't met one person or a dog that has had a problem.

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"...The main reason they are increasing is global warming..."  Dog, they don't call it that any more - they call it 'climate change', mainly because the earth is probably through with it's recent warming cycle, and is likely to be cooling for the forseeable future, but also partly because people are slowly waking up to the fact that AGW is probably a political con, and based on flawed, convenient 'science'.

Chris

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These warm/cold cycles have been going on since the Earth was formed and as you say Chris global warming/climate change/save the planet is netting some people a boat load of cash! One real good volcano erruption will put us in an elongated winter for a decade or so. Mankind produce somewhere in the reagon of 7 or 8% of the CO2 on this planet, so us cutting down by 10% will only make a tiny difference anyway. Maybe worth the effort, maybe not, who knows?

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It doesn't matter what you call it increased temperatures has aided the spread of these lovely creatures. They are only potentialy dangerous for a short period.

Every creature is there for a reason.

Why kill when you can remove to a distance?

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have just returned from our house in the Gers. We had several trees down from the recent tempeste, and have cleared them from the copse adjoining our house. During the few weeks when spring is arriving but the trees have no foilage, it's a good time to get out the binoculars and look around for the woodpeckers, treecreepers, red tailed blackstarts, tits and various other birds that are more difficult to see in summer. However, this time, I saw these candy floss balls very high up in one of the pine trees and assumed they were spiders nests until I found these threads while searching for an answer.

Two things struck me. Firstly my children have been making a nice large camp 10 metres from the base of the tree and they were telling us that they had seen some hairy catepillars, thank God they didn't touch them. Secondly, we employed a newly siret-ed english tree surgeon to cut the fallen  trees, and he had no idea what the nests were. Fortunately for him, the pine tree didnt fall down, or he would have found out the hard way that being a tree surgeon in the UK has different dangers to those in France. The question now is what to do with them. The nests are about 20/30 metres high and I guess there are between 5 and 10 of them in a fairly tall but small topped tree.

Thanks Jon for continuing to highlight these creatures and the risks.

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Any one still wondering what they look like .... spotted by a public lake last week , thousands of them[:-))]

 

 

[IMG]http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z22/pads_03/IMG_4599.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z22/pads_03/IMG_4596.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z22/pads_03/IMG_4593.jpg[/IMG]

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I am just glad to know that your children weren't harmed Baypond. As far as the caterpillers are concerned now, they will probably have come down and sorted out some soft ground to bury themselves in to pupate. If not then they will do so very soon. When I see them on the ground I put some gloves on, washing up gloves are good because you can wash them afterwards, and very  carefulls use a hand brush and dustpan and scoop them into it and burn them. If you don't see them now then no problems.

Start to look out for the eggs, normally on the very low branches because the moths are not very good fliers.There is a fairly good photo of them here http://web.cortland.edu/fitzgerald/PineProcessionary.html. It's the web site I posted at the beginning of this thread, it will save trying to find it again. If you find the eggs just remove the effected needles and crush the eggs under foot. At this and the early caterpillar stages they are not dangerous at all. In the early autumn you might start to see small scraggy cocoons low down and this is the best time to catch them because as they develope they get higher up the tree. Our trees are about 8 meters or so high and I can reach them with my  e   x   t   r   a   long loppers.

In some countries they spray the trees and all they do is kill everything. In some Spanish cities they have inoculated the trees, at great expense, and keep them at bay that way.

I don't like to kill anything, but I make an exception for these. Google 'pine processionaly caterpillars' and you will get a boat load of reading.

Good luck.

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Thanks Kathy, that's very interesting, well found.

Also worth noting is that..

""Natural predators are: Crested tits that will eat the eggs and very young caterpillars. Cuckoos that will eat the caterpillars. Hoopoes that will eat the pupa from the ground and most bats that will eat the moths.""

which is now on http://www.planetepassion.eu/WILDLIFE-IN-FRANCE/Pine-processionary-moth-France.html

Chris

 

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So please don't kill these lovely creatures - let nature take its course. They do good killing pine trees and give life to bird species and bats that are very useful.

It a real 'elf and safety nightmare scare - you cannot remove or kill everything that may upset your cocooned in cotton wool life.

Live and let live - if you really don't want these lovely creatures nearby - pick them up and move them to a safe place.

It's a good job you don't know about all the other insects with similar or better ways of protecting themselves.

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Is it coincidental that we have several nesting green woodpeckers in and around the copse?

Probably, although I'm sure they will welcome the extra food.

As far as I know they will take any grubs, eggs or larvae that are in the soil.

We need an expert.

Chris

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The consulting entomologist a professor  I speak to says little research has been done into what species of birds and other predators eat pine processionary caterpillars - he thought cuckoos did and suspected a broad spread of birds eating them.
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