Christmas always greets us with guests, usually those welcome, like the group we had over for Chrissy dinner. Then there are those unwelcome ones, like the dreaded lurgi that hit me two days before Christmas that I then passed on to "She who must be obeyed", and I find out to the next door neighbour - oops, sorry about that. Coming home from lunch out after a few days recovering (from both the lurgi and the excesses of Chrissy dinner) we found another unwelcome guest - Australian Plague Locusts.

Just walking across the yard you should be able to see (if not hear) the locusts swarming in front of the camera. They were also in the garden and unfortunately completely destroyed the small experimental plot of Japanese and European millet we had planted, along with the interplanted fenugreek.

If you look closely you might see some 2-3mm high bits of green, this morning they were close to 100mm high, and the entire area was covered.

Apparently locusts are attracted to green, and it seems it doesn't matter if it is grass or shadecloth. If you click on the image above you can get a much closer look and you can even see a few on the wing.

So, out with the beige cloth in the hopes that it will confuse them and cause them to leave the rest of our garden alone. Well, they still seem to be landing on it, but so far haven't ventured under it.