There is a strange phenomenon occurring around our house. Gypsy moth caterpillars have taken over the area. They are in all of the trees - the oaks are now bare, so they've moved onto maples, witch hazel and even pine. Everywhere you look you'll see several on a branch. And as you walk, you hear, what would normally sound like rain falling on leaves, but what is actually their waste dropping down from above. Guy had to sweep our stone path today since walking barefoot has been somewhat disgusting. This is really a plague!
Some notes about gypsy moths... Apparently they were introduced by some scientist to cross bread with silk moths, to make more silk. The female gypsies cannot fly, so you'd think that they wouldn't get very far outside of the area to which they were introduced. But they got smart and learned to lay their eggs under cars, which spread them throughout the country. Now they have arrived to many areas, such as our home, where they have very few predators, and so cause an immense imbalance in the eco system. And after all that, the silk experiment failed anyway.
