Caterpillar damage to trees

[mmilne]

Am I imagining it, or is leaf damage from caterpillars more severe this year?

Nearly every tree in my garden -and in the woods and lanes around - has been badly affected. I would guess there's at least a 10% loss of leaf area on the oaks, and more than 30% on a copper beech. The only trees that have escaped it completely are eucalyptus, laurel and sumac, as far as I can see (apart from conifers, that is).

Among the worst affected: oak, crabapple, apple, pear, quince, hazel, mountain ash, willow, cherry.

One of the culprits is definitely the winter moth larva, which I've found on the oaks and fruit trees - but I don't know if it's causing all the damage.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm on the Berkshire/Hampshire border near Newbury.

Mike

[SAHop]

How are the trees now? I have been very worried about the trees for 18 months now in Northants. Leaf loss and dead trees in large numbers in many parts of the country.

[mmilne]

Well, it's not so good - because of the dry summer the trees haven't been making much new leaf - but there's been no further leaf damage since the spring onslaught.

I'm wondering whether the caterpillars were so numerous because their natural predators were killed off by the severe winter - I usually have lots of blue tits and great tits in the garden, but I haven't seen many this year.

Another odd effect I've noticed is that, after a massive amount of blossom on the fruit trees in the spring, there's little or no fruit - apples, crabapples, quince, greengage all devoid of fruit. I don't think it's from lack of pollination -the eucalyptus was covered in bees for weeks while it flowered, so I know there are plenty of bees. I didn't see birds eating the buds, though it could have been that - or maybe it was caterpillars again!