Dreaded beetle arrives in Los Gavilanes!!

I´m so upset about this I´ve had to blog twice today to show you.  Well, here it is, I´d love to think this is the only one, but I fear it won´t be.  I found it in the garden this morning, it was dead but still alarming to find. About an inch and a half long and half inch across you wouldn´t believe it could cause so much devastation across the countryside.

          

We´ve been watching palm tree after majestic palm tree succomb to this terrible plague getting ever nearer and nearer our mountainside.  There will be a very close inspection now of all the palms, but it´s going to be a losing battle I think as these large beetles eat from the middle of the palm trunk out and you don´t know they are there until the leaves all start dying and that´s too late.  It will be a sad day if it comes to that.  After almost seven years the palms are looking glorious