CONSERVATIONISTS have warned that a voracious caterpillar that devours everything in its path is set to make an unwelcome return to the fells of South Lakeland, North Yorkshire and Eden this summer.
Every eight to ten years, millions of marauding Antler Moth caterpillars descend on the Cumbrian uplands, where the hungry creatures munch through mat grass, which grows in clumps on the fells.
The last time the greedy grubs arrived in the Lake District in the 1990s, they wreaked havoc, forcing farmers to take their sheep off the hills.
This summer, wildlife experts have announced that the rare natural spectacle, which lasts several weeks, has returned.
Rob Petley-Jones of Natural England's Roundsea Wood and Mosses Reserve, Haverthwaite, said that what sparked the sudden swarms was unknown.
"From what I understand this is happening right across the uplands at the moment," he explained.
"It looks like there is an eight to ten year boom for antler moths, which have an extraordinarily abundant larval stage.
"There are a lot on Ingleborough and in the Shap Fells at the moment."
For full story see June 8 Westmorland Gazette.
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