A battalion of creepy crawlies is staging a revenge invasion on a Tayside cook.
Around six years ago Brechin mother-of-three Carol Simpson contacted Angus Council when a plague of caterpillars set up home in a bush next door.
The offending shrubbery beside her privately-owned home was cut back and the horde defeated until now.
Tens of thousands of the centimetre-long insects, thought to be moth larvae, have returned with a vengeance and this time are invading Carol’s house.
“They are everywhere all over the place,” said the 44-year-old. “I can’t have my windows open because they get in. It is disgusting and it makes my skin crawl.”
The outbreak has stemmed from the same bush as last time and the small public garden area beside Skinners Burn walkway has been smeared in a strange cocoon.
Carol, who works at a butcher’s shop in Edzell, said the unwanted visitors only seemed to flourish on the one variety of plant.
She said that the green/grey caterpillars eventually turn into moths, which she has found in abundance in her house.
“I just want them (the council) to do something with it,” she said. “It’s all down the side of my house and now the caterpillars are getting into the house.
“I know they are living creatures but it’s pretty repulsive.”
The matter was reported to the council’s access office at the start of the week.
Carol and her family are now checking their beds at night to make sure they are not sleeping with anything unexpected.
A council spokeswoman said: “We understand that the caterpillars may have moved to this plant because they have found a source of good food, but apparently it’s unusual for them to defoliate an entire shrub.
“We expect that in a week or so all the caterpillars will start to evolve into moths and butterflies and the foliage will grow back.
“Once the moths and butterflies have flown away we will hard prune the bush to aid its recovery. There is no evidence to suggest that the caterpillars will move on to any other bushes and create a serious problem.”
Dave Dyker, of Brechin Horticultural Society, said it would be almost impossible to identify the species of shrub due to the heavy damage.
He said: “These look like ermine moth caterpillars. This type of thing happens all over the country and is linked to a change in the weather.
“The caterpillars hatch out and then feed on whatever plant they are on until they kill it.”
It appears Carol is not alone in facing a caterpillar infestation. A graveyard in Essex has taken on a ghostly appearance after thousands of the creepy crawlies invaded trees and floral tributes.