Shropshire residents bewildered as mysterious web covers roundabout hedge

Residents in Shropshire have been left bewildered after noticing a bush covered in a mass of webs.

The natural occurrence was spotted on a roundabout at the Meole Brace Retail Park in Shrewsbury and appeared to be a heap of spider webs.

Jennifer Anderson saw the webs and shared pictures to social media. When she got closer, she noticed the culprits were in fact caterpillars.

Jennifer explained: "I thought it was spiders until I got close enough to see the caterpillars, it was an amazing sight, something I have only seen on TV or online before, nature is an amazing thing."

One person commented on Jennifer's social media post to say that the spectacle was ermine moth cobwebs.

On its website, Butterfly-Conservation.org says: "These webs and caterpillars are harmless and usually last from May to June.

"The webs slowly disappear over the summer and typically the hedgerow shrubs/trees recover."

Answering why caterpillars spin these webs, Butterfly-Conservation.org says: "It's a successful evolutionary strategy, providing protection from predators through safety in numbers.

"However, numbers are hard to hide and hence the production of the silken webbing."