Soon to be a view of the past
Sadly the wildlife outside in the garden doesn't just rear its ugly head in spring. Today I killed a small scorpion by the rubbish bin. I didn't enjoy it but I decided that I wasn't up for a reunion inside the house. Shortly afterwards I came face to face with my first, and rather large (5 cms or so) red palm beetle, weevil, mite or whatever, clinging to one of my new curtains. It was a soul-destroying moment. The Artist claimed he had seen one two weeks ago in the garden but I hoped against hope that he was mistaken. However when a neighbour told me she had found one floating in her pool, I resigned myself to the fact that I am going to lose my palm trees. Today this new sighting has confirmed my fears. The whole of the coast and inland is suffering a real plague of these destructive little b**gers as they suck the life out of palm trees before moving on to fresh pastures. So, here in their honour, before they start to lose their wonderful fronds, are two of my three palm trees.
The culprit
