Caterpillars have been pictured dangling from eerie looking webs in a Cardiff suburb, with people being said to have found some of the creatures attached to them. St Mellons resident Rhian Gregory found a bush, tree, lamppost, and floor "engulfed" with small ermine caterpillars in the north Cardiff suburb.
Sharing images of the creatures, she told WalesOnline: "They have created webs and there are thousands of them. They are dangling above you as you try go past. I haven’t been brave enough but I know a few people who have said they had to go straight home and strip off as they have been covered in them and even found them in their bed that night, where a sneaky one had still be attached to them. Nature is fascinating!"
The 35-year-old says she has seen the caterpillars for the last couple of days, including on Sunday evening with her children and again on Monday morning. It comes after an incredibly rare white sparrow was spotted in Roath which you can see here.
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She said: "When coming up the path, at the side it looks like the tree has been sprayed white. Like someone had decorated it for Halloween in the month of May. It appears quite spider like webbing, as you get closer you can see loads of tiny grey caterpillars with black spots. Only just over an inch long."
Rhian said that the caterpillars are dangling over a path, even finding their way into people's hair. She continued: "These caterpillars have hitched a ride on some people. Some people screaming. Or avoiding the path completely. Some have told me they have had to go straight home and strip off, and even joined them in their bed."
Rhian said she "felt itchy" after seeing the caterpillars. "I wasn’t brave enough to go directly underneath. I was fascinated by nature and took some photos," she continued.
She added that while she has seen yellow and black cinnabar caterpillars "in their thousands before" on yellow ragwort plants at the side of the path and road, she But has never seen "caterpillars that create the spooky spider like webbing."
These web-like sheets are spun by either bird cherry ermine or hawk moth caterpillars. Moth larvae, or caterpillars, produce silk and some species, particularly ermine moths, spin copious amounts of webbing. The huge swathes of webbing are often spotted across the UK in late spring and early summer.
The silk blanket protects the caterpillars as they prepare to chrysalis into moths, protecting them from predators. The webbing appears often in May or June, with swathes of it covering hedgerows, trees, and bushes.
A spokesperson from Butterfly Conservation told WalesOnline: "These are likely to be ermine moth caterpillars – which should be thought of as a wonder of nature. There are eight species of ermine moths found in Britain and most of the species have white or whitish forewings which are covered in rows of black dots, hence the ermine name.
"The silken web of the larvae (caterpillar) is what is most frequently seen and it can look very alarming. No need to worry though! The wispy webs of a few ermine species can be very extensive and completely cover a single or even several bushes or shrubs, giving them a ghostly appearance.
"The species that can have a particularly extensive web are the Bird-cherry Ermine, Orchard Ermine and Hawthorn and Spindle Ermine. These protective webs can harbour vast numbers of caterpillars which can defoliate the shrubs/bushes. Generally these will fully recover and grow new leaves, with the webbing disappearing within a matter of weeks.
"So - in short – it is a protective web for the caterpillars of the Ermine moth and they will eat away at the leaves of the bush/shrub. It’s a natural phenomenon and spectacular to see. The webs will have disappeared within a couple of weeks and the bush will fully recover."
