Caterpillars devastate acres of GX Common's woods

Residents are concerned that without leaves the trees - many of them ancient Oaks - will be unable to survive.
Among them is Beverley Scott, who has even up put notices asking the general public if anybody knows what can be done.
The retired teacher from Fuller Way said: "The caterpillars have eaten all but they very top branches, and the smaller trees look dead. I noticed the caterpillars last year too, but they didn't do nearly so much damage. I wonder how they will survive without leaves."
The Advertiser sent a pictures of one of the caterpillars - which are so numerous we estimated there were 2,000 on one park bench alone - to experts.
David Rose of the Forestry Commission Advisory Service said it was a Winter Moth - not the harmful Oak Processional Moth which has been imported to the UK in recent years by landscape gardeners and is appearing in large numbers in London and just outside London.
He said: "The Winter Moth is very active this spring all over the country. We had a warm April and a wet May which is ideal for them. But they won't harm the trees. In a month the trees will leaf out again. There may be a certain check to the growth, in fact if you look at growth rings you can see which years there were large numbers of moths because of the smaller growth. We think the moths are peaking this year and that next year there will be a decline."