well the answer is what you have said, its those caterpillars. which species they are I don't know.

Do you grow the figs to eat or just for fun. If you don't plan to eat hem Then I'd leave them to it.

If you want to eat the figs then you will have to use a systemic insecticide designed for edible crops. You local gc may know what they are and they will certainly have a suitable spray.

Thank you for your reply. Yes we do eat them and they have never had anything wrong with them before.

I asked my daughter and she says difficult to identify specifically, but they look like one of several 'micro- moths'. She isn't aware of any that specifically target figs.

You could send the image to the RHS advisory panel and ask them what they'd advise. Let me know if you get a proper id as my daughter and I are curious.

Provanto Sprayday Greenfly Killer will kill caterpillars and is safe on fruit and vegetables. I could be wrong but the leaves look like leaf minor infestation also as the caterpillars haven't eaten them completely. Have a look at the spray and I would take all the damaged fruits off and destroy them.

Thank you for all the useful suggestions.

Might they be a type of sawfly larvae? Some eat fruits and may have fancied figs too.

If you can get a closer pic showing the number of legs (even approximately) - that would decide whether they were sawfly larvae or moth caterpillars (sawfly larvae have more "legs").