Our neighbour said he would have a go at destroying the nests - or rather send in his son who works with EDF and is a volunteer fireman, but the problem with pines is that they have very fragile branches that you can't just prop a ladder up so we have left it at that.
We have an 'action group' for collecting and destroying them in this commune. We have all but given up. We have a dozen nests in our only Scots pine. The caterpillars are eating the needles rapidly so the tree is unlikely to survive. Cutting it down is a problem. It is on the phone line route with a junction off. Both pass through the tree about six metres up! They are far too active for now, like four months early!
Seen some of the candy floss like nests this afternoon. The way things are going, expect to see swallows arriving soon…
On the centre antipoison website they suggest that the rash becomes worse with each contact and that in areas of infestation people should not dry washing outside from May to September, water lawns before mowing etc etc.
I have seen 2 sets of critters in the same place this year and last but only one string - not a whole net of them!
Hi Helen, I saw 'processions' of chenilles for the first time last weekend when out walking. It was an amazing sight with probably ten different lines of chenilles with a few in one line and as many as twenty in another. I walked past the same spot this morning and saw a very large fir tree felled in the nearby garden. I spoke with the owner of the property who explained the infestation was so bad no treatment would possibly be able to cure the problem !
I have just cleared away a string of chenilles processionaires - unfortunately now I itch a little.
We have squirrels, occasional bats, my bees active and I have seen, first time ever this late, active wasps. There have been several frosts but not hard enough to convince nature that it is shut down.
Well yes, he should be well into his winter kip by now !
…and I’ve just seen quite a large hedgehog running along our gravel path. That’s not normal!
Peter, it's all "Humbug" anyway!