Lymantria dispar (dt. Schwammspinner) in bush of ribes

A couple of years ago I helped on a little ecological working farm in north eastern germany. Beside some chickens and sheeps their main income was by producing berries of all kind and selling them in Berlin. It was very interesting to see the number of animals living in the 12 hectare bushcultures. They don't use any kind of plant protection but the huge amount of living creatures in this area avoid a pest of one species. Secondly they try to support beneficial animals by planting trees at the end of the cultures or growing beneficial cultures next to the bushes. Surely they hadn't the same yield as a farm which uses synthetical plant protection but they could demand a up to four times higher price as well.
It was fun for me to work there and I had the feeling the ecosystem had fun too. Here's a caterpillar, which can harm a lot of damage for plants by eating the young leafs. In this case it was just a beautifull little caterpillar on the way to his next babyleaf.

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