Puzzle

Tony and I (and two of our neighbours) are hoping that the blipnaturalists will be able to explain what is going on here? Tony spotted the webs on this shrub glinting in the late afternoon sun on his return from a bike ride. He thought they would make a good blip and our scrutiny of them brought out two neighbours who were also intrigued. What we hadn't spotted straight away was that the bush appears to be ailing or even dead and we all wondered if that had been a consequence of whatever had spun the webs?

I'm hoping it might be damp in the morning so I can re-blip it with dewdrops!