To Catch a Caterpillar Contest

The article last week, about the human-induced success of the processionary caterpillar, cannot hide the fact that this insect is causing very serious havoc in the European coniferous woodlands and damaging the habitat of many creatures dependent upon it. Quite a number of chemical and biological controls have been used but the population of these caterpillars continues to increase and spread.

North Cyprus is home to many people with a wide variety of skills, technical knowledge and inventiveness which could be harnessed to help with this problem. KyreniaCommentator is opening a competition for some clever new ideas to keep this insect’s population in check whilst, it goes almost without saying, not damaging either the forests or the other creatures that live in them.

Each of the four stages of the development of the Pine Processionary moth can be the target of new remedies. We have had a couple of ideas ourselves which suggests that our clever readers could “hatch out” many more.

Egg stage: as the eggs do not move they should be vulnerable to something although, it appears, there are not sufficient hungry natural predators which are able to put a dent into the number of eggs laid on the pine trees.

We have no ideas here.

Larval stage: as the caterpillars come out at night and stay in the trees, with few predators, they are difficult to deal with except by indiscriminate chemical or biological spraying.

Our idea: the one time when the caterpillars are most vulnerable is when they come down from the trees and begin to process in their long columns, sometimes numbering thousands or tens of thousands of individuals. Our idea is that people armed with the humble garden vacuum could suck up these pesky caterpillars and take them out of circulation permanently. Each caterpillar vacuumed this year means 100, or so, less next year.

Pupal stage: the pupae do not move very much but because they are below ground they are not easy to deal with. However, it is likely that the areas where they have burrowed themselves should be fairly easy to find – soft, damp ground close to pine trees.

Our idea: a tasty grub is pure heaven for a chicken. We suggest, therefore, that areas likely to shelter pupae should be ploughed to a depth of about 10 cm and a flock of chickens let loose to feast on what they find. Of course, it is unlikely the chickens can be trained to eat only caterpillar larvae so there is some hit to other bugs. The result could be eggstraordinary.

Moth stage: something small, whizzing around in the canopy of trees at night is not an easy target but bats are excellent at hunting moths in the dark. We just need thousands more of them. Bat boxes?

Your ideas will be published in CyprusScene by Kyrenia Commentator and judged by the well-known non-entomologist Chris Elliott. A magnificent trophy will be awarded to the winner on 1st March 2024.  Fire up those brain cells and come up with your weapon against this caterpillar onslaught.

Kyrenia Commentator says, please leave your comments below