Catástrofe

Not exactly what I had planned for today.  But catastrophe has struck in the garden of one of my neighbours.  They are away at the moment and when we popped round to check the pool and house, we were greeted with these...

 

I knew that there had been some problems locally with  the "Picudo" (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier) in Palm trees and have seen a number of trees dead as a result of this.  On further investigation (thanks Don Google), I discovered that it was first known of in Granada in 1995.  The beetle is believed to have originated from palm trees imported from Egypt and has now spread all over Spain and has reached as far as France.

We contacted the local "ayuntamiento" (town hall) who were not interested, and then went to a local agricultural supplies shop and invested in a bottle of insecticide.  Tomorrow, we are enlisting the help of a friend with a tractor and his crop spraying tank.  Apparantly using a backpack type sprayer would be like pi$$ing in the wind when it comes to dealing with these beetles.

Considering that we live very close to Both Orihuela and Elche, who both have large "Palmerals", I am surprised that no governmental body was interested and that there is no official fumigation program for this pest.  It would be a disaster, especially for Elche, whose Palmeral is, I believe, a World Heritage Site.