Non-motoring > Wood-boring insect	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: L'escargot	Replies: 25

New Thu 6 Sep 12 09:34   Wood-boring insect - L'escargot

On our patio we've got a piece of old tree (sycamore) trunk which has got some 8mm holes drilled in the upper end. I've just noticed (it wasn't there yesterday) that in one of the holes there's a largish insect burrowing further down into the hole. It's producing a pile of sawdust on the surface, surrounding the hole. I assume the insect is making a nest. What is the insect likely to be? If it's harmless to human life (or our bungalow) I'll leave it alone, but if it's not then I'll give it a dose of insecticide powder. Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 6 Sep 12 at 09:36 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 09:44   Wood-boring insect - L'escargot

I've found this www.rtcgroup.co.uk/pdfs/RTC%20Woodworm%20Guide.pdf but none of the insects shown seems to correspond with what we've got. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 09:59   Wood-boring insect - devonite

Can you not "Winkle" him out with a pair of tweezers for proper eye-balling? Could be a solitary Bee setting up camp for the winter! Last edited by: devonite on Thu 6 Sep 12 at 10:00 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 10:28   Wood-boring insect - Mike Hannon

Could be a bee, could be a long-horned beetle (capricorn). They like old wood rather than treated house timbers (luckily). We get them in the log-piles. Best to try and drag it out for examination. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 11:48   Wood-boring insect - Lygonos

If largish means the size of a wasp, it may be a wasp. I can't imagine it could lead to structural damage. Classical woodworm damage is caused by decades of little grubs burrowing through timbers unmolested - usually the boreholes will be of the order of 1-2mm dia and almost perfectly round. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 11:59   Wood-boring insect - L'escargot

>> If largish means the size of a wasp, it may be a wasp. I saw it partially (covered in sawdust) shortly after it had started boring. It looked as if it might be the size of a wasp. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 12:02   Wood-boring insect - L'escargot

>> Can you not "Winkle" him out with a pair of tweezers for proper eye-balling? You must be joking! If it has teeth sharp enough to chew up wood there's no telling what it could do to me if I annoyed it! Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 13:54   Wood-boring insect - Meldrew

If you can get it out thus site may help you identify it www.ispot.org.uk/ Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 14:18   Wood-boring insect - CGNorwich

That would be Waspus Bungaloides. Its normally lives under brick weave paving and emerges in the autumn. Known to destroy an entire bungalow in days. Immune to all known insecticides. Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Thu 6 Sep 12 15:10   Wood-boring insect - WillDeBeest

Also partial to terrestrial gastropods. Can you not "Winkle" him out... More likely to be her than him. My guess is it's a beetle and it's found some old, soft wood in which to lay its eggs. The larvae tend to be much more boring than the adults, and the larval stage often accounts for most of the lifecycle: it might be a larva for two years, then emerge as an adult for a couple of weeks. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 16:43   Wood-boring insect - L'escargot

>> Also partial to terrestrial gastropods. >> >> Can you not "Winkle" him out... >> >> More likely to be her than him. My guess is it's a beetle and it's >> found some old, soft wood in which to lay its eggs. What surprised me was the "sawdust". The nature of it was like you get when using a tenon saw, and it was the colour of fresh sawdust so the wood wasn't that soft. The amount was enough to make a pile about two inches in diameter. Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 6 Sep 12 at 16:45 Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 17:13   Wood-boring insect - Dutchie

Live and let live.>:) Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 17:59   Wood-boring insect - CGNorwich

Live and let live.>:) Dutchie you should know that the recommendation here on spotting another species is to either: 1 Blast it with as shotgun 2 Drench it with weedkiller 3 Spray it with insecticide 4 Coat it with old sump oil 5 Use a flame gun Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 6 Sep 12 at 17:59 Reply to this message | Report message       1

New Thu 6 Sep 12 18:57   Wood-boring insect - WillDeBeest

The real problem nowadays, CG, is that the larvae hang around much longer than they used to. There really ought to be more of an incentive for them to pupate and leave more rotting tree trunks for the next generation. Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 20:16   Wood-boring insect - CGNorwich

Only a problem if there is a proven stump shortage and then how do you know the larvae capacity of any particular stump? Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 20:38   Wood-boring insect - swiss tony

>> Dutchie you should know that the recommendation here on spotting another species is to either: 1 Blast it with as shotgun 2 Drench it with weedkiller 3 Spray it with insecticide 4 Coat it with old sump oil 5 Use a flame gun 6 All of the above..... Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 20:40   Wood-boring insect - Zero

In that order? Reply to this message | Report message

New Thu 6 Sep 12 20:46   Wood-boring insect - Armel Coussine

That's the humane order if you think about it.... Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 7 Sep 12 05:53   Wood-boring insect - L'escargot

>> Live and let live.>:) >> Live and let die is my maxim for wood-boring insects! "When you were young and your heart was an open book You used to say live and let live (You know you did, you know you did you know you did) But if this ever changing world in which we live in Makes you give in and cry Say live and let die" Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 7 Sep 12 08:34   Wood-boring insect - Cliff Pope

I'd been about to find a forum to post this question on, but this one is perhaps appropriate: Is there such a thing as a stone- boring insect? Earlier this year I re-pointed an old gable wall with lime mortar. Yesterday climbing a ladder to fix a chimney cowl I noticed that areas of the wall had been peppered with small holes, about the size of a wasp. They are a few inches deep, and some have a cobwebbed fringe to the entrance. What sort of creature bores holes in mortar and stone? Not spiders, surely, or do opportunistic ones make use of a hole bored by another species? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 7 Sep 12 08:44   Wood-boring insect - L'escargot

>> Is there such a thing as a stone- boring insect? Masonry bee. www.countryservicespestcontrol.co.uk/?p=376 Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 7 Sep 12 09:47   Wood-boring insect - Cliff Pope

That's them - many thanks for the link. I thought it unlikely anything small had strong enough teeth, but you live and learn. They sound pretty harmless, and quite interesting, I'm honoured to be hosting them. They can join the honey bee colony, swallows and bats that all seem to want to live with us. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 7 Sep 12 10:17   Wood-boring insect - Crankcase

We had masonry bees in the endwall of our old barn - but didn't know it, as there was no easy access to that wall from the outside. After a few years the wall collapsed into the neighbour's garden, which was not a wonderful day. Rebuilt in brick and wood. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 7 Sep 12 12:09   Wood-boring insect - Cliff Pope

Useful warning - I'll keep an eye on them. But the wall can probably stand a few little holes. Before I pointed it there was soil trickling out from between the stones and ferns growing. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 10 Sep 12 11:20   Wood-boring insect - Alanovich

>> But if this ever changing world in which we live in The atrocious English of that line used to bother me somewhat. Until I learned that it was actually thus: "But if this ever changing world in which we're living". Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 10 Sep 12 11:31   Wood-boring insect - Manatee

>> Say live and let die" Chill out, relax, and take life as it comes. You can always get another bungly hole. Reply to this message | Report message