El Reccoral processional caterpillars

Whilst spraying has taken place I have seen in the centre of the park(near the rectanglar area)on smaller trees several pods.Be warned as these house the caterpillars that can be toxic for dogs.

Anyone know how long they are in season for?

They normally hatch in February/March time

That’s what I thought. Spring time and reading on them suggests the same

https://blog.abacoadvisers.com/processi ... -in-spain/

Seems a bit out of season and the reason I ask is that we are dog sitting in January and I had thought it wouldn’t be an issue.

Look out for them in January.

The season seems to change every year depending on the weather I guess. We have seen them at this time of year before.

Inform the Town Hall they will come out and deal with them.

The nests are there from about August until they finally leave it in February/March depending on the weather and temperature. In between August and leaving the nest for good they do crawl out to feed but not far and not leaving the tree. They usually feed three times before they finally leave. However, if it is windy they can blow down on the ground during this time so during this whole time pet owners should be aware when near pine trees.

Be warned it is temperature dependent and we have seen them in the past in Early to mid January so don't think just because they normally come in Feb you are safe!

I would like people to know that not just dogs cats are at risk to these caterpillars so are people and children my husband had these spores land on him and it completely disfigured him it has took four years for him to recover I'm telling you this so you can google it and see the affects it also has on humans SO BEWARE IT COULD BE YOU the spores blow about in the wind and they could land on you, you won't even know it happened please look read about it on google. It is horrible.