A couple of weeks back I put this blog out as we were about to move into temperatures above 20C for the first time in 2021 and as predicted we have indeed moved into some pretty decent temperatures for a sustained period of time.
To date (9/6/21) we've had very little reports of Chafer activity with only Garden chafer being spotted so far with an individual CockChafer sighting (whilst camping on the Isle of Wight). keep those sightings coming in it's really helpful to those who are using Acelepryn to guide their application dates.
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I expect like Cranefly this year's cold Spring has delayed the hatch but now we're into some sustained temperatures I expect the sightings to increase over the next few weeks.
2019 we'd had 41 reported sightings, 2020 we'd had 35 and this year we've had 13.
Please report any sightings on PestTracker whether you intend to treat or not to help the rest of the industry. I suspect the timings for effective treatments this year will be early July but without your support it's tricky to tell.
But did we see the flush of cranefly activity that I was expecting?
In short - No!
What we have seen in 2021 is a much more sustained long period of reported sightings - to date in 2021 you've reported 134 sightings but at this point in 2020 you'd reported 120 and in 2019 - 119.
Similar numbers each year just a more sustained hatch pattern in 2021 than previously and I suspect thats influenced by this years very cold April and May.
Looking at the areas they hatch the reports are more dominant in the warmer areas of the country. I'll watch with interest over the next few weeks before I wipe the Spring hatch clean and start logging Autumns activity!
