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Look out, they're hatching
23 Aug 2004
The Spring locust menace has started, with the first sightings of young hoppers around Lightning Ridge and Bourke in the past week. Although the initial hatchings are very light, the Australian Plague Locust Commission has started surveying likely hot spots in northern NSW and southern Queensland. The looming danger follows the Autumn movement of swarms from the Queensland border and north western NSW to central and southern NSW, where widespread egg-laying took place.
Locust hatchings are triggered after about five consecutive days of temperatures above 25 C.
The heaviest hatchings in NSW are anticipated in the Mudgee, Dubbo, Coonabarabran and Molong areas between mid-September and early October. Up to 40 aircraft have been booked to spray locust bands as the hatching season starts, in addition to around 200 people from the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
The Land, 19/8/04.
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