Conservation & Ecology
The two images here show skin rashes caused by contact with OPM hairs ©Henry Kuppen
The association has a directory of members at
www.trees.org.uk/find-a- professional/Directory-of-Tree-Surgeons.
Control policy and methodology
The Forestry Commission leads the control programme because OPM is a notifiable tree health hazard. We work with Public Health England and other health and local authorities, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and major landowners to devise, implement and develop the control programmes. In London, we are advised by the OPM Advisory Group, which is chaired by the City of London Corporation and comprises representatives of many of the above organisations. In Pangbourne, we work most closely with West Berkshire Council. We aim to eradicate the Pangbourne and
Bromley/Croydon outbreaks, and to contain and limit the spread of the larger West and South-West London outbreak. We are particularly anxious to prevent OPM becoming established in woodland, where it would be much more difficult to identify and
control than in parks, gardens, hedgerows, streets and farmland. The control programme comprises five key
phases:
- winter surveying and plotting of egg masses and old nests
- spring surveying and plotting of egg masses and emerging larvae
- late spring and summer spraying of known infested trees and all oak trees within 50 metres of known infested trees
- late summer surveying and manual removal, usually by vacuum equipment, of nests, whose presence indicates the possibility of missed infestations
- late summer and early autumn pheromone trapping for adult male moths
Most control operations, such as spraying
and nest removal, are carried out by pest control professionals with appropriate training and equipment. In addition, some owners of large landholdings have obtained their own equipment and trained their own
©Henry Kuppen
Our surveyors cannot inspect all the many potential host trees, so we rely on, and are very grateful for, the vigilance and reporting of others, especially groundcare and treecare professionals
”
staff in these tasks. Groundcare professionals working within
or near to the affected areas are well placed to provide an invaluable supplement to our formal surveys. Our surveyors cannot inspect all the many potential host trees, so we rely on, and are very grateful for, the vigilance and reporting of others, especially groundcare and treecare professionals, to build as full a picture as possible of the pest’s distribution.
Further information, including photographs to aid identification and a report of the 2013 control programme, is available at
www.forestry.gov.uk/opm. Local authority groundstaff can also consult their tree officer colleagues, whose professional association, the London Tree Officers Association, is closely involved in the control programme. (
www.ltoa.org.uk)
OPM larvae in procession on the ground ©Mark Townsend/Gristwood & Toms
An adult oak processionary moth Crown copyright/Forestry Commission
PC APRIL/MAY 2014 I 93
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