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Author Topic: Do birds eat caterpillars?  (Read 4311 times)

Jesse

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Do birds eat caterpillars?
« on: August 06, 2004, 21:48:56 »
My turnips have been destroyed by lots of hungry little catterpillars  :'(

I noticed the leaves had been eated by something yesterday and today there is virtually nothing left of them. There are dozens of birds that visit my garden every day but they don't seem to be paying much attention to the little beasties, I was hoping the birds would finish them off for me but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.
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Mrs Ava

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2004, 12:58:20 »
They have eaten the caterpillars that were eating my currant leaves.  Guess it depends on the birds.  Squish the caterpillars!  YUCK!  :P
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tim

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2004, 10:27:21 »
Well they couldn't get inside my caulis - there were so many in them that I had to cut them prematurely for freezing. That's 5 of them.

And the calabrese side shoots, which were doing so well, were trashed by 100s of beetles. What did someone say they were? Not fleabeetles. Quick but not flighted. = Tim    PS 10/8 Sorry - they do fly when provoked!!
« Last Edit: August 10, 2004, 16:45:07 by tim »
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Doris_Pinks

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2004, 11:24:48 »
They look suspiciously like Adult Vine weevils from that Photo Tim!! :o  But surely not..............http://www.med-rz.uni-sb.de/med_fak/physiol2/camellia/pest/weevil.htm
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Mrs Ava

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2004, 12:48:21 »
curious bugs Tim.  If they are small, like flea beetles, but look like weevils, which they do in that photo, then I don't know, sorry, useless I know, but I have seen lots of these on produce coming home from the allotment.  Oh joy, another bug to deal with!

Nice cauli by the way - am green with envy!  :-\
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tim

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2004, 13:05:38 »
I should have said 2m approx - so not vine weevil?? But it took me 30min to get them out of the calabrese shoots - in 3 changes of water - by which time I reckoned that they had done so much damage that I ditched them & picked the cauli.

And I learned that you don't put salt in the water when washing cauli - the caterpillars die where they are - deep in the middle!! = Tim
« Last Edit: August 08, 2004, 13:07:10 by tim »
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piglit

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2004, 11:44:18 »
At last, someone afflicted by my plague (sorry but I was feeling a bit isolated, at least now I have someone to commiserate with).  I think they are cabbage seed weevils... see the link below.  They came off the OSR behind my house and ate every last brassica to the ground.  So I sowed more and they ate the seedlings before they even had 2 leaves.  They are pesky little creatures and there is nothing that will kill them that you can buy as a normal person (I am going to ask my local farmer if he can help as it is all his fault right!).

Glad that you managed to harvest something though! Your caulis look great!  

http://www.pestspotter.co.uk/pests/7.htm
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tim

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2004, 15:18:24 »
Thanks for that, Piglit - wonder what size they are? We have OSR all around us. A killer for the hayfever sufferers.

Not pretty!  I'm checking it out. = Tim
« Last Edit: August 10, 2004, 15:19:58 by tim »
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piglit

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2004, 17:39:10 »
"wonder what size they are?"
Do you mean the evil weevils (as they are known in my house)? They are anything from slightly smaller than a flea beetle to about the size of a ladybird and they have little 'trunks' in a quite cute elephant like way, that is until you realise the carnage that the cute little trunks can wreak in just a matter of hours.
piglit
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"It is awfully hard to be b-b-brave," said Piglet, "when you are only a Very Small Animal."

tim

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2004, 20:17:17 »
That's them!! = Tim
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Tenuse

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2004, 23:38:36 »
Tim!

They are 2m big??? You mean TWO METRES??

I don't want any of them bugs near my lottie please!!

Ten x
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piglit

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2004, 10:05:19 »
Tim, if I work out how to kill them I will let you know! Sorry that you have got them too, they are very destructive little beasties.
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"It is awfully hard to be b-b-brave," said Piglet, "when you are only a Very Small Animal."

tim

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Re:Do birds eat caterpillars?
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2004, 13:39:55 »
Ten - they seem that big for the damage they do!!

I binned the whole row of calabrese today. = Tim
« Last Edit: August 11, 2004, 13:40:45 by tim »
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