REPORT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Documents show Natural England believes spraying will not eradicate oak processionary moth and could harm butterflies

Oak processionary moth caterpillars destroy oak trees and can cause sore throats and rashes in humans. Photograph: Christine Tilbury/PA

Woodland will be sprayed with insecticide from a helicopter for a second time to wipe out a caterpillar that is destroying the UK's oak trees, despite the government regulator saying in private that such an approach is unlikely to work and could have "serious" effects on other wildlife.

Officials were so concerned by the spread of the oak processionary moth – whose caterpillars can cause itchy rashes and sore throats in humans – that last May they undertook aerial spraying to eradicate it from woods near Pangbourne, Berkshire, the only infested site outside London. The moth was first found in England in 2006 and has taken hold in the south-west of the capital.

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/04/aerial-pesticide-spraying-uk-woods-fears-butterflies