gooseberry sawfly -leaves disappearing??

A warning to all, I've just spent half an hour squashing sawfly larvae on my gooseberries. Didn't get any last year but they have re-appeared.

That seems awfully early for sawfly, mine has only just grown some leaves.  I'll have to have a good look!

As you have guessed, it sounds like the work of the gooseberry sawfly to me.  http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=517

The plant will get weakened by it.  Take a look at the plant and investigate to see if there are any grubs remaining on the plant, remove them and squish.  Hoe the ground anyway as, even if they have left the plant, they may be in there.  It is worth regularly hoeing around gooseberries to prevent them overwintering there too.

I would give the plant a feed and hope for the best, but your fruit is probably going to be affected.

By the way, I find my red gooseberry doesn't get affected either - I guess it doesn't taste as nice to the sawfly!  Same for me with slugs and red lettuces!

Been back today and they're there again!! Getting huge and stripping the plant

I've netted mine to try to keep them out.

One thing that surprised me was that I read that they overwinter in the soil below the plants. But we didn't have any sawfly at all last year so I wasn't expecting them this year