Autumn is almost here (part 2)

Some other creatures:

A Migrant Hawker Dragonfly that posed nicely for me.

A Green Bottle that I'm pleased with.

A couple of spiders.



A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee (could be a white tailed but this seems to have a bit of colour on the tail)

One evening I spotted loads of caterpillars on a young hornbeam. I identified them as Buff-tip moths. They stick together eating a leaf at a time until they are in the latest instar stage and then all split up. I counted about 50 and wondered how much damage they would do - as it happened quite a lot, but the tree still has a few leaves and buds getting ready for next year. The caterpillars have gone, some were spotted around the garden. They pupate over winter in the soil.

Here's a couple I caught shedding their skins. The hairs are probably irritating.

Butterflies and moths

The Sunday after I posted my last blog entry I noticed that a lot of the Large White caterpillars had gone, and by Monday they had all disappeared - either off to pupate or taken by birds. Since then the cabbages started to recover and I've since spotted eggs

With some ready to hatch

So I knew where to look for these on July 25th

They are still quite small

I thought I was going to spot two Large White butterflies mating today, but they turned out to be female Large and Small Whites.

The Small White flew over to the cabbages where I caught her laying an egg.

The Small White lays eggs singly and I think this is a young caterpillar - it was on the cabbages anyway.

And I'm certain this is a fully grown Small White caterpillar. I almost didn't spot it despite its size. It wasn't there the next day.

A few days ago I found this caterpillar which I'm fairly sure is of a Comma. It is on the hops, one of the preferred foods. I've seen a couple of Comma butterflies in the garden.

It's normally hidden from view, curled up and looking like bird poo, but I turned the leaf back to get the photo. I don't think it liked the sun and was on the move.

Today I saw my first Peacock butterfly in something like 40 years. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo. However a few weeks ago I was on a bike ride and met my daughter and family out for a walk. As we chatted the kids spotted this Peacock caterpillar.

On another bike ride I spotted a Speckled Wood butterfly - another first for me.

Back home and today I saw my first identified blue butterfly - a female Common Blue.

A couple of days ago I spotted this. I think it might be a Skipper (a kind of butterfly) but am not certain. It's hiding its antennae so I can't tell if it's a butterfly or moth.

Edit: it's a Yellow Shell Moth. Thanks to Lynmiranda for identifying it.

And finally a Common Plume moth.

Moths

On my bike ride mentioned above I also saw quite a few of these moths. I thought I knew what they were because Lynmiranda (see blog link in my Birdwatching blog) had photos of similar moths. But I noticed they weren't the same. This is actually a Narrow Bordered Five Spot Burnet.

I spotted this moth on the (dirty) window today. Three hours later it's still there. I managed to identify it quite easily as a Small Magpie Moth.

The moth is outside - the fence, hedge, house and sky are reflections.

Caterpillar

Yesterday evening I spotted this caterpillar on my Silver Birch. It wasn't moving and I wondered if that thing on its back was some other creature that was burrowing in or out. I didn't hold out much hope of finding out what it was - try searching for caterpillars - but there it was and confirmed by other sites. It's the caterpillar of the grey Dagger Moth, a boring looking insect that flies at night but pollinates flowers. As there's only one caterpillar I will be leaving it alone.