I am feeling like a total idiot after reading this article on processionary caterpillars.
At the weekend I walked up to the Mirador with my friend, accompanied by Duna and Bonnie.
We were fascinated to see the long lines of caterpillars walking across the path nose to tail and we stopped for some time filming and taking photographs. The dogs were milling around as usual.
It is only now that I realise these are the dreaded pine tree caterpillars which can cause terrible reactions in humans and sometimes shock and death in dogs. They also damage the pine trees and move on when they have eaten their fill and it is time to look for a place to burrow underground and complete the next part of their life cycle. If you or your dog come into contact with the fine hairs which cover their bodies they can cause reactions varying from mild irritation to anyphalactic shock. These hairs fall off their bodies as they process so may be spread around the ground for the dogs to walk across.
Well, I suppose it is a good signal that you can be so close to danger without even knowing about it and sometimes nothing bad happens. As a compulsive worrier I will take heart from this
But I think it will put me off going up to the Miranda until the caterpillar season is over.
Let’s see if this video works – Bonnie is whining because she is bored – not stung!
Chuck has a nasty reaction to them, and the vet is sure that he lost part of his tongue due to them. They are a risk, but we go to the mountains anyway, it’s a very long season.
I was thinking about Chuck while writing – wondering how you manage with the fear of them in the hills.
Actually I was there by them for about 15 minutes and BOnnie was close by. and there were loads of half dead ones that cars had run over so probably the while area was covered in fine hairs.
but we were all ok.
thank goodness.
K xx
Crazy! Amazing! and Scary! I was laughing because when my dog heard Duna whining, she started barking and running around trying to find the other dog in the house! But really, that whole stinging caterpillar thing would freak me out.
P.S. I took the word verification off my blog. I was still getting spam anyway…and I agree that it is very annoying and almost impossible to get right the first time.
You and the dogs were very lucky! Last spring I saw a line on the track but Jasper had already gone past them… and the year before there was a line of them near our garage at the Mas. We sent Jasper inside while Steve set fire to them, while he was standing upwind. That reminds me, I need to remind him to check all the trees around our Mas.