Wednesday 20 July 2011

Uninvited Guests


OK, you cant simply love all of nature. There are some species that are not on the list and right now woodworm is one them. I've been doing my office up and when I ripped out an old shelf i found fresh wood worm holes all over it - so I've had to spend a fortune on chemicals and time to spray the whole office. The chemicals are nasty but quite frankly, i need a house to live in and its got wooden floor boards throughout. So its death to the woodworm.

The woodworm is of course not a worm, its a beetle. The "worm" confusion is the result of a beetle laying eggs into wood and a grub hatching out. Once hacthed out it this beetle grub will then munch away at the timber. People simply mistook the beetle grub for a worm. And what a nasty little grub it is too if you own a house - it will feast on your timbers for between 3 to 5 years! Once they are finally done stuffing themselves on your house they bore a chamber near the surface of the wood and pupate into the adult beetle, which eats its way out, flying off to find more beetles to mate with. The life cycle then starts again as they lay eggs into the surrounding wood in your house.

They're clearly a very successful little beast, and love the warm slighlty damp conditions our homes offer. Infact they are so successful there have created a multi-million pound human industry around eradicating them, but the fact we provide a home for them is certainly one accident I wish we didn't create. I know you have to admire nature's tenactity if you are going to celebrate accidental nature, but right now........