Ive just been collecting wood off my land and came across 2 nests in the pine trees, (very low down) I dont normally get them here anyway, but strange to see them so early, theire normally about feb ....must be the mild weather....

anyway.....they didnt think much of my mini flame thrower..

Burn the little pests. The damage they can cause to pets is terrible.

Funny you should say that I say 2 nests in the puig campana area. on sunday.

Yes, but are they fresh nests or just last years empty ones?

I've just taken some down off very low pines. The little bu***rs were about 1/4cm long already!

Having now looked around, I can see another couple of nests in my pines about 40' above ground.

We've got some new ones in the Languedoc, despite the hundreds of male butterflies caught in the traps we put up in the summer. Apart from being resourceful about finding mates, the females are getting more intelligent, forming the nests out of range of our telescopic pruning hook.

Yes these were new nests, the catapillars inside were huge, an inch or so long, (ive never seen one close up before)....

their now toasted....

That's bad news then. Maybe the cold winter will kill them off!

They don't normally come down to ground level until spring when they are looking for a spot to pupate. Maybe that will be earlier as well next year.

Apparently the warmer weather suits them fine as they are moving further North through Europe every year and in Spain they have moved up the mountains from 1400mtrs up to 1800mtrs asl inside a few years in the Sierra Nevada region.
They dislike snow,rain and wind and are said to make excellent barometers as they snuggle up in their nest, up to two days before a low pressure system moves in.
If they can survive at 1800mtrs its unlikely they have too many problems with the cold at lower levels.
However the one thing that does severely restrict their population growth and reduces their numbers is lots of heavy rain during the flight period.
Oh and beware of those hairs when knocking them out of the trees,...up to one point eight million of them on one single caterpillar!....
Seems the only thing that can stomach them is the "hoop hoop" bird.