 Poster: A snowHead
|
Over the last two to three weeks out here in Serre Che I've noticed the Larch trees on the slopes turning almost golden, which is what you'd expect in autumn but not in the height of summer.
Last Sunday I raised the questions with some local Frenchies who said it was a "malade" / sickness of the trees, that is cyclical in every eight to ten years and the trees come back.
I tried to establish what this sickness was but think I lost something in translation, then again today I asked someone who lives in a summer village where we were, and again had the same answer that it was cyclical sickness. He then said it was so bad that camping areas down close to Lac Serre Poncon were closed because of it!
So tonight I asked my trusty French mate who is a font of all knowledge with regard to the mountains, and who speaks quite good English and along with the Internet I was finally able to get to the bottom of it and fathom out a few other questions that have been baffling me.
First off the sickness is down to parasitical caterpillars - further googling once I knew what I was looking turned up this article from the UK Forestry Commission.
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pineprocessionarymoth#susceptible
And what one of the photos on that page shows is of a nest that we've seen since back in the winter in certain areas of trees, and not something we've ever seen before, but back in the Spring I had explained to me that they were in fact caterpillar nests.
We've had scares in the UK about furry caterpillars giving a nasty rash and I think what's happening down in Serre Poncon is a much more serious infestation of them, and again googling confirms that if you use the French word for caterpillar = chenille
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
These are bad news for dogs, not sure what can be done except cutting out the nests and burning them. Difficult in mature trees of course!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
@Weathercam, further South they are a bloody plague every year. They are easily spotted in Spring as it looks like a massive ball of cotton wool/ spiders' webs in the trees. We have all the trees sprayed every spring; pets are inquisitive and the thought of them dropping on kids horrible!
If you google chenilles processionaires you'll see pics of the head to toe trains they form.
Allegedly its the the hair on their bodies that cause the pain
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
@Weathercam, we get annual warnings in the late spring in Geneva about avoiding them and who to call is a nest is found.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
let's carry on with that thread (the old one @fixx linked to) and close these others.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ