The Hedge with Fog
The local people of Ballynahinch Road, Lisburn, are in a state of shock with the sudden appearance of a hedge which seemed to turn brown with a thick layer of fog on top, overnight due to a small creature.
The hedge is situated on the side of the road, and looks like it has a layer of fog on it, but with closer inspection it is actually covered in webs. What makes it even stranger is the fact that not all of the hedge is destroyed but only some of it, although the fog seems to be travelling along the entire hedge.
The hedge is predominantly made up of Hawthorn and Honeysuckle, and it is the Hawthorn which has felt the wrath of the instigator. The Hawthorn has now lost it's leaves and has turned brown and withered, but surprisingly, the Honeysuckle is still in full state.
On closer inspection of the web, there appears to be a small caterpillar style creature on the webs, and there are thousands of them, although no expert was available to validate the creature. From looking online, and from rumours of the local residents, the creature could be a Hawthorn Maggot Fly or a Browntail Moth larvae.
One eye witness recalls: 'The hedge just turned overnight from a lovely green, to a dull grey colour with what appeared to be fog. It is spreading at a vast rate, and I just hope it stops soon before it destroys half our countryside'.
The Hawthorn Maggot fly is native to North America, but the Browntail Moth is native to Britain and Europe. In both cases they lay eggs and the larvae hatch in late summer.
We have consulted the experts (Archie Murchie at the Plant Health & Environmental Protection unit in AFBI in this case) who says "If on hawthorn, probably small ermine moth (Yponomeuta padella). Will cause dramatic defoliation but not normally a problem unless occurring year upon year. We have had several reports this year of this species and some other closely related species causing damage."
