Another wireless programme I dip into is Farming Today on Radio 4 at 5.45 am.
Recently I have become better informed about the plight of pig farmers. I can now differentiate between farmers and processors. The government are helping the latter by issuing visas for skilled staff to come from Europe but it will take time. Meanwhile farmers either have to feed their pigs (expensive) or slaughter them on the farm (heart-breaking and wasteful).
I also heard the Eight-toothed Spruce Bark Beetle (Ips typographus) has been found in several locations in Kent and Sussex. These small beetles don’t actually eat spruce trees. Its bark is worse than its bite, sort of. They lay their eggs under the bark towards the tree tops where the larvae pupate causing dieback in the upper branches. To begin with they are happy to use weaker trees as a nursery but as numbers grow they move onto big healthy spruces and then pine trees.
This is a source of major concern in Norway. An infested tree is felled and all trees in a 300 meter circumference. I hope Oslo didn’t inadvertently send any beetles with their Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. In SE England the trees are also felled and incinerated. The sites are being replanted with native species and it is hoped this policy will eradicate the beetles. If they were to spread to single species forests of spruce in the north of England, Wales and Scotland it would be a disaster.
It reminds me of the box tree moth, cydalima perspectalis. I sprayed the box hedge in late April this year and then took my eye off it for a few months by which time it had sustained serious damage. I hope it can be revived with nourishing fertilisers and frequent spraying against this pest that has virtually eradicated box in west London.