feersum beestie v2

Another caterpillar, this time of the elephant hawk moth, trying to find a safe place in the grass and leaves. When disturbed this enormous caterpillar rears its head and waves about in an attempt to look sinister. Its head is actually much smaller than it looks, and it retreats into the bulge on top of which are the two large simulated eyes.

feersum beastie

This is the caterpillar of the pale tussock moth (see link for earlier post showing the moth). The colours are striking and serve to warn predators that they are distasteful to eat. At this time of the year they are about to spin strong double shelled cocoons and then hibernate over winter before emrging as adult moths in May and June. There is always something new to see!

something lurking in the woodshed

An unusual sight locally at the best of times, a humming bird moth taking an interest in our woodshed, and a photograph (1/3200 at f8) taken in 2012 that shows their amazing ability to hover while feeding on nectar.

woolly bears?

a very large caterpillar found crossing the road up to Kit Hill. It looks a bit like the caterpillar of the tiger moth known colloquially as woolly bears, but it is very large for a tiger moth caterpillar and a slightly different colour. I haven't been able to identify it. Many caterpillars are leaving their food plants now to look for somewhere to hibernate.

Wainscots and waves

Out doing big butterfly count today (link) for third or fourth year in a row. The meadows were bursting with meadow browns, whites, skippers and ringlets, a few silver washed fritillaries and the occasional red admiral, tortoiseshell and small copper. In amongst all these butterflies it is easy to miss the moths. Most moths (of which there are thousands of species) are extraordinarily difficult to identify, mainly because no one appears to have come up with a colour coded identification chart or web page for simple minded people. The top photo is a common Wainscot (I don't know how they get their names), and the bottom photo is probably a smoky wave (both on the balance of probability rather than certainty!).

And above is a close up of a small skipper. No blue butterflies at all again for the second year in a row.

popular picture

This handsome and chubby moth is the poplar hawk moth. Normally it flies at night and rests up during the day. The flashes of red brown at the base of the hind wing are characteristic, as is the generally pale brown grey colour of the fore wings. This moth trembled a lot presumably as a defence display, and it was happy to fly off when finally released. It also has the unusual habit of holding its hindwings in front of its fore wings when at rest as can be seen below. It is the commonest of our hawk moths. Although it has a proboscis, the adults do not feed.