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Errr. Should I be a bit scared....

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  • 22-09-2008 8:21pm
    #1
    avs0020
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24 ✭


    Overnight this bunch arrived uninvited and seem to be having a family reunion on what is left of a lone damaged silver birch (poor thing snapped in half in the heavy winds recently). They dont seem interested in the other 8 silver birches nearby.

    I'm trying to be a bit "at one with nature" and I dont want to do anything drastic or wipe out next year's butterfly population. In fact at the end of the season with leaves dying back for autumn anyway I'd be happy to live and let live, except that they're not keeping up their side of the bargain and seem to be gunning for the little bumps I presume will be next year's spring growth.

    So is it time for caterpillar genocide or should I leave them alone?

    Thanks for the advice


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    #2
    itsmedee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19 ✭itsmedee


    By attracting wild birds into your garden with bird baths, bird houses, and flowering vegetation, they will eat many times their own weight in insects as well as give you sensory delight.


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    #3
    Irish Gardener
    Registered Users Posts: 451 ✭✭Irish Gardener


    avs0020, old thread on a similar subject that I was involved in here..... http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054978746


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    #4
    avs0020
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24 ✭avs0020


    Sorry for belated thanks (work got in the way of important stuff like gardening). I did check out the link to the previous site and based on the very useful content, I dispatched the bunch in the most humane way possible.

    However I missed one and I came across him this afternoon. He is now as large as the length of a silver birch leaf + stem, is as thick as a pencil, and is definately more stripy than spotty. See attached.

    I am now doubting that its a match with the sawfly. My dilemma is that I dont want to wipe out the good guys and find myself responsible for a shortage of butterflies in my garden?

    So I am back to square one and would appreciate any advice.

    Thanks again


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