Sawflies or ermine moths?

[loripo]

I took a number of photos last summer of trees covered in webs and literally hundreds of small caterpillars(larvae) covering the nettles beneath. This year again the trees are covered in brownish webs, so I assume they have pupated slightly earlier. I was told they were sawfly larvae, but have seen some articles online from the Daily Mail saying that these were ermine moths.
Nothing seemed to be feeding on them. I can see Ermine moths in the Gallery, but no mention of webs. The trees recovered, but will they withstand repeated attacks?

[charlieb]

They are Ermine moths - do you know what tree they were eating?

Attacks like this don't occur every year, and this year seems particularly bad (even the tabloids are reporting killer caterpillars ).

[loripo]

Thank you for that very fast reply! I think they are lilac, but I will check on that. Its in the park so they tend to be ornamental or some specials like Kentucky coffee and gingko, They do have a couple of 'wild' areas which used to be fenced off so that a natural collection of plants and what they quaintly call 'minibeasts' now could establish. This is on the edge of one of those areas, but now they have taken the fencing down its being used for all sorts of nefarious activities so I tend to avoid it.