In spring, some of the pine trees in Portugal, Spain and the south of Franceand other parts of Europs start to acquire fluffy tufts of white similar to candy floss.
These innocuous-looking fluff balls are actually the nests of Pine processionary caterpillars
Thaumatopoea pityocampa [Processionnaire du pin /chenilles processionaires in french.]
It still sounds quite harmless until you see that the trees containing the nests are less healthy looking with missing and yellowing pine needles.
The caterpillars are voracious eaters and weaken the trees by stripping the branches and reducing its growth cycle ands this in turn makes the tree more susceptible to plant disesases.
In fact, its easy to see the yellow needles and bare twigs in this photo.
As the caterpillars grow, the nest gets filled with rubbish. There is no entrance or exit to the nest, the caterpillars just push their way through the fibres. You can see one of the mature caterpillars on the outside here.
This is the final stage of caterpillar developement
I did not take any extreme close ups because these caterpillars are very dangerous.
The caterpillar hairs are extemely toxic and easily released as a defence against predators , causing terrible rashes , swelling and breathing problems [especially in the children, asthmatics and the elderly] and eye problems such as conjuntivitis and in extreme cases, galucoma and cataracts.
Even empty nests contain a lot of hairs which continue to be dangerous - some folk have reported problems from wearing clothes that are being aired in gardens next to the empty nests.
This was another ball of caterpillars perched on the edge of a kerb.
The caterpillars are also a huge problems for pet and horse owners -I've read that eating one caterpillar can kill a cat and 3 will kill a dog.
Dogs, horses [ and seemingly to a lesser degree, cats] are attracted to the pheromone trail and pick up the irritant hairs on their tongues and this can lead to necrosis and gangrene of the tongue or death if the animal isn't treated quickly enough.
Many animals every year require partial ampuataton of the tongue or have to be put to sleep after licking or eating these caterpillars.
This is straggler trying to catch up with the rest of the caterpillars on top of the kerb. The caterpillars follow a pheromone trail and are often found walking in long lines nose to tail, which is why they were given the name processionary caterpillar.
In experiments, these caterpillars can be made to wander round and round in circles endlessly following the pheromone trail.
After all the havoc of the processional stage , the caterpillars burrow into the soil and make a cocoon/crysalis. Over time they eventually hatch out as nondescript moths , who lay eggs on the pine needles and start the cycle over again.
The caterpillars have a few natural predators - cuckoos and great crested tits will eat the caterpillars untill they are covered in the irritant hairs and the hoopoes eats the cocoons when they are buried in the ground.
Humans have a variety of ways of dealing with the caterpillars - from releasing bacteria
[Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki ]
and chemical
insecticides - to removing the beginning nests by crudely blasting them with shotguns [the spread of hairs is still possiblity though] or carefully cutting off the branches whilst wearing protective clothing, face masks and gloves and then incinerating the nest , branch and all.
The moths are quite unusual as they fly during the day, even in the rain and hover when feeding from flowers.
The moths migrate to northern Europe but only breed in the warm south.
The water flows underneath the building and the tunnel is decorated with concrete shaped like stalactites and stalagmites . This was a popular fashion at the end of the 19th century and there are the remains of a number of similar artifical 'grottoes' around the area , though most are in poor repair.
This is a close-up of the faux-Austrian woodwork - its kind of a cross between Austrian chal;e decoration and Victorian 'gingerbread' woodwork
This is a view from the front , showing some of the artificial waterfalls. Its quite a popular place to have wedding photos taken - we saw two bridal parties while we were visiting.
A view over to mont Boron and Mont Alban on the left
He was peering up at some yellow legged gulls on a ledge here. He seems to be very wary of gulls , and for good reason as they are quite happy to snatch up a smaller bird to feed their own young.
This reminded me of some sort of sci film special effects-the sky looked like it was on fire.
I loved the massive wedge shaped sunbeams lighting up the angry clouds.
Its hard to believe that these thick clouds all disappeared within an hour .
However , when the fisherman waded back to shore and saw the gulls tucking in to the fish he was really angry and tried to scare the gulls away; shouting and waving his arms. 
The gulls seemed quite happy with their al fresco sashimi lunch.
Another little egret taking off.
Here are two little egrets walking around -they stopped every so often to hunt for fish and amphbians.
I didn't notice the cormorant until I got home- it was so well camouflaged and most of the time has its head pointed towards the reeds.
A grey heron [Ardea cinerea] stalking majestically across the pebbles. Grey herons are very large birds with a huge wingspan . They mainly hunt for amphibians [esp frogs] and fish but they will also eat small mammals and birds.
As the caterpillars grow, the nest gets filled with rubbish. There is no entrance or exit to the nest, the caterpillars just push their way through the fibres. You can see one of the mature caterpillars on the outside here.
This is the final stage of caterpillar developement
This is straggler trying to catch up with the rest of the caterpillars on top of the kerb. The caterpillars follow a pheromone trail and are often found walking in long lines nose to tail, which is why they were given the name processionary caterpillar.
After all the havoc of the processional stage , the caterpillars burrow into the soil and make a cocoon/crysalis. Over time they eventually hatch out as nondescript moths , who lay eggs on the pine needles and start the cycle over again.
A gate into the private gardens of the Regina building. The little crown is part of the decorative ironwork. Initially the garden paths were laid out for easy access by the Queen's wheelchair. The gardens were quite elaborate and had croquet lawns, tennis courts, cycle paths and a tropical green house.
The Excelsior Hotel Regina closed in 1937 and Queen Victori'as coat of arms was removed from the private chapel and placed in the Holy Trnity Chrich in Nice where she worshipped once .
I was really pleased to capture the facets of the compound eyes and its quite jolly grey and black striped torso like some kind of sport referee.
Grenadier Guards tent insignia -they have little grenade insignias around Napoleon's eagle [the word for explosive grenade comes from the french word for pomegranante [grenade] because the early greandes looked very similar in shape]
Some drummers drumming.
There are a lot of re-enactors in Golfe Juan for the Napoleonic weekend. They camp in Napoleonic era tents on the beach and everything looks very authentic. 
Posts
