Mallorca’s Club de Golf Alcanada has announced a new eco-friendly initiative to tackle a pine-eating species of caterpillar. The Pine Processionary, a moth native to the southern Mediterranean among other regions, is known for irritating hairs that can trigger allergic reactions in humans and animals and is named for the damage it can cause to trees.
Over recent years, an increase in Pine Processionary has created longstanding problems for the club’s many pine trees and other native wildlife. Traditional methods of controlling the caterpillar’s population are proving increasingly ineffective as numbers continue to grow.
With the help of local respected ornithologist Cristina Fiol of GEAN (Management, Studies, and Nature Activities), the club has installed 30 nesting boxes across the course and surrounding grounds. The boxes are intended to attract two insect-eating birds to nest and breed in the area: the Spotted Flycatcher and the Great Tit, the latter of which feeds specifically on the Pine Processionary caterpillar.
Kristoff Both, director at Club de Golf Alcanada, said: “Though we try to leave our native environment as undisturbed as possible, in recent years it became clear that more steps were necessary to control the population of Pine Processionary caterpillars in order to preserve the trees and other wildlife around the course.
“Tackling the problem by encouraging native birds to nest here is an ideal solution because it doesn’t entail huge amounts of chemicals, and we will now keep a careful eye on the areas around holes seven, eight and nine to monitor the success of the initiative.”
Club de Golf Alcanada opened in 2003 and has become one of Spain’s most popular golf courses over the last two decades. Its course, designed by prolific and respected architect Robert Trent Jones Jnr, is the only one on the island situated right beside the sea.
The club is perhaps best known to UK golfers as a regular host of the Rolex Grand Final, the last event on the HotelPlanner Tour, which will return again in autumn 2025.
