After Mrs B visited on Wednesday, leaving 42 eggs, I put a bird net round the Alder Buckthorn in the hope that it would also discourage another visit. It didn't work, I now have so many eggs that in mid May I shall have to relocate at least 3/4 of the caterpillars
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Doggie mummy living in ancient York, Yorkshire, England.
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@milaniet Actually it's a REALLY big problem. The tree is tiny, can support no more than 20/30 to pupation. The nearest supply of "baby food" is 7 miles away. I suppose I could walk & take most of them with me (Ha ha!) or risk a drive. Choices are few, allow them to starve or relocate. My understanding is that if the drive takes less time than the exercise it is allowable. The estate is 1000s of acres so I'd be away hours after a 15 minute drive.
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@oldjosh Hope you see them soon, you certainly will after the end of May. I'll have to drive 7 miles to relocate them and then play in the forest for a few hours. Hopefully that will be allowed.
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@sandradavies@annepann@koalagardens Thank you, I had really hoped NOT to have another visit, there are too many eggs now & the tiny tree can't support them all.
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@pdulis thank you, the shape of the wings and the colour, especially of the female, makes them very difficult to spot if you don’t see where they land.
@sandradavies@annepann@koalagardens@milaniet@oldjosh@merrelyn@rhoing@julienne1 a sad update. Over 50% of the eggs have fallen foul of small predators. Given that normal unprotected attrition is in area of 99% I suppose it’s ok. 15 eggs are now inside, and a very few remain outside. Finding caterpillar food is now unlikely to be a problem
May 5th, 2020
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