Strange caterpillar web

[jopo]

Hi,

My husband spotted this in a local wood, out walking the dog. Sorry the picture's not great (they were taken with a camera phone) but it's the web like stuff we're interested in!! What is it? What sort of caterpillar is it? There were several trees/bushes covered in this stuff - they worked very quickly it didn't look like this last week!!




I'm not much of a nature buff so sorry if it's a really common sight!!

Cheers

Jo

[John2]

Hello jopo,i don't know what that stuff is,but it looks great.Where did you see this? Coz if it's closeish to where i live,i'd love to go check it out & photograph it.I've never seen anything like it,lol.
Here's hoping someone will answer your question,i'm well interested in the answer.
John

[henrya]

Can you say what the trees were? It would help in the ID, but I'm guessing one of the Ermines (which are exceptionally difficult to identify!) The caterpillars weave the web for protection from predators.

henrya

[jopo]

We live in Gateshead - - a bit of a trek from Cambridge!! My husband's the gardener, not me, but he couldn't identify the tree/shrub as there was so little left to identify!! All I can say is they were smaller than the other trees!!

Jo

[John2]

We live in Gateshead - - a bit of a trek from Cambridge!! My husband's the gardener, not me, but he couldn't identify the tree/shrub as there was so little left to identify!! All I can say is they were smaller than the other trees!!

Jo

Yep Gateshead is a bit of a drive away.Cheers for letting me know where you found it though.
If you have another chance to photograph these caterpillars,i'd be well interested in seeing more photos.
John

[Beryl]

Hi.Welcome to the wab
The Tent Caterpillars weave webs like this

[jp345]

we have a hazel hedgerow bush near us in cumbria which is covered in webs every year - same bush whilst others never affected. photos attached. only leaves left above the webs, presume grew after the webs spun. caterpillars emerging now from paperlike cases in groups. thought we'd identified it once from a book but can't find it now, will keep looking.
ps - if the photos don't appear on here could someone help - only seem to be able to insert urls - so tried 'attach'

[Alan]

Hello Jo and JP, welcome to the site

[Rich]

The caterpillars completely strip a hedgerow of leaves and are a common sight on Romney Marsh and surrounds.

[jp345]

thankyou for the welcome!
just found some more in a hedgerow (not on hazel)
rich - but what are they?!!
PS - great site this but a few technical queries - how do you add info to lhs of post with username? seem to have to keep logging in despite checking 'remember me' box. do peops use 'attach' to post photos?
tia