Processional Pine Caterpillars

These are one of the nastiest creatures in Spain, you can have a read about them HERE if you wish.
Needless to say my walking the dog over in the forest is coming to an end very soon.

They sound like the Oak processional caterpillars we get here. Nasty little so and sos. You can watch a great army of them marching up an oak tree.
Here they burn the off with flame throwers as the only way to get rid of them.

Good set of photos.

Shame about the dog walks.
How long now till the dog is England proof and you return?

FInlay is not England proof until end of Febuary, he is going back the end of March so I have a few months of sunshine yet.
Christmas day its me, him and a chicken .. my wife and son are already back in the UK.

Recent photo of the dog, was pleased with this one, he actually sat still for 3 seconds.

Oh what a great looking dog! Herder/collie mix? I love the expression on his face

CHEAT!

You got him to sit still by promising chicken

We think he's German Shepard/Husky cross.

See that distant gaze in his eyes, thats from watching the chicken being flung over a wall.

These build silky thread nests in pine trees over here. Spray the nest with hair spray, cut it down, set fire to it in a safe place.

They are very dangerous to any curious animal that might sniff them. Those little hairs contain a poison and if they get into a dog's nose, mouth or throat there's not much hope for it.

Sad to see you leaving Spain Mike, good luck in UK. Hopefully you'll be back one day.

Flamethrowers and hairspray The poor little caterpillar, nice set of nippers though.

Good shots mike

No such thing a as poor procession caterpillar - the oak procession caterpillar is vicious, and painful and can (with its procession of chums) kill a full grown oak tree in a matter of days. Not to mention the odd human or two.
link

Thanks Peter, its only until my son finishes his education and then in the immortal words of the Terminator .....

The wife has now got the idea though that when he does finish school we rent out the houses in the UK & Spain, buy a motor home and go off for a few years.

Do you want to swap wives Mike? that sounds like a proper plan to me. Would have to have a trail bike on the back tho'.
'Dream on Marky boy - you've got another 16 years yet...'

My wife and I had the same idea. Then we realised how many nights half board you can get in Europe for the price of a camper. We use hotels now and can still navigate the tiny streets to be found in some European cities/towns/villages. You can't do that with a camper.

Persactly, hence the trail bike. Even my old VW Combi was so bad on fuel it was cheaper to drive a small car and get B&B!
2 years exploring the world tho'... stopping for extended periods to soak up the locality, camping, motorcycling, hiking - bliss! and always the van parked up somewhere not using any fuel. Bollocks to Christmas, bollocks to a house full of 'precious' possessions, bollocks to the stupid, hysterical British media... rant

I think it would have to be a VW transporter 2.5 TDI kitted out at home. So maybe I have just narrowed down the type of woman prepared to share it with me

It's just a dream you know... just .. a ....dreeaamm.

BTW, Nice caterpillars Mike - I liked number 3 - like a pattern of nastiness!

You know I haven't had a cold or cough in the last 18 months while we have been here in Spain and after going back to the UK for less than a week I am now sitting here shivering with a sore throat, runny nose, and constant cough. To be honest I don't think I want to go back to that.

Worse thing is there is no one here to feel sorry for me so its a total waste of time having it.

I can trump that. I hadn't had a cold for 3 years until I went to Barcelona last week. If yours is the same as mine it's a pig and I clearly caught it on the plane. The only effective help I got was from Paracetamol to kill the symptoms.

Chin up it goes in about 3 weeks I believe.

Mike