Caterpillar invasion turns cemetery into horror film set

Visitors to a cemetery have been spooked after a plague of creepy crawlies left the graves shrouded in eerie cobwebs. The scene at Southend Cemetery in Essex is straight out of a horror film with silken threads draped over trees, plants and gravestones.

It has been caused by an invasion of thousands of bird cherry ermine moth caterpillars who have created a vast weblike nest.



Nova Bickmore, 69, could not believe the sight when she visited her father's grave. She said: "There were thousand upon thousand of caterpillars and a silk web all over the trees, which had no leaves left.

"Some of the caterpillars were hanging down from the trees and others were all over the floor. It was a really ghostly scene."

There are more photos here.