Pete's Walks - Oak Processionary

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Photo taken on 8/8/20 at Kensworth, Beds.

This is a central and southern European species that has recently arrived in London and surrounding areas. It is considered a pest, and the fine hairs on its caterpillars can cause a serious health hazard to humans. It gets its name from the peculiar habit of its caterpillars of forming long nose-to-tail processions. Rather bizarrely I trapped my first Oak Processionary moth on the same night in August 2020 that I caught my first Box-tree Moth and Gypsy Moth, two other pest species.

Photo taken on 8/8/20 at Kensworth, Beds.