Last October I came across a huge, plump, gravid female vapourer moth in the garden. She produced eggs on a honeysuckle bush leaf. Before autumn arrived and they all fell to the ground, I collected and over-wintered them in a suitable spot.
I made sure they were kept fairly chilled, sprayed them occasionally with tepid water and then waited and hoped that they would survive what turned out to be a reasonably mild winter.
I made sure they were kept fairly chilled, sprayed them occasionally with tepid water and then waited and hoped that they would survive what turned out to be a reasonably mild winter.
I've been checking daily for any developments and today when I looked in on them, there were three of the tiniest larvae I have ever seen crawling around. I know that vapourer larvae will feed on most broad-leaved trees and also I remembered finding caterpillars on willow previously and thought that might be a safe bet as a food plant. They now have a nice supply as well as a few rose leaves, another place I have found them in the past-hopefully they will take to one or the other.
I guess the larvae are about 2mm at present and I am keen to see and learn how they develop having only ever found final instar larvae before. It will be great to witness the change in appearance at each moult and I already know the final stage before pupation will look very different to this little hairy beast.
In the garden, the blue tits that I hoped were nest building in one of the boxes have been busy visiting the box and even hopping in and out of it, one has been doing a lot of beak-wiping on the perch too. However, I haven't yet seen it taking in nesting materials, so I am not sure if it's going to happen at this stage.
Could it possibly be that this feline presence is putting them off?
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| Kent is looking fantastic right now |
And in my local woods-'Comfort's wood' things are hotting up nicely. Although most of the trees here are around 20 years old, there is an area of ancient woodland as well and so I can never be sure quite what I might find. I have already turned up several notable species and the commoner invertebrate numbers seem to increase year on year.
Below is a selection of photographs taken on a recent walk around the woods. These were all taken on one visit...
I was pleased to find the tiny leafhopper (1st photo line 3) which I think is Javasella pellucida.
There are plenty of butterflies around too...
And a couple of contrasting views of a hazel leaf-roller weevil I spotted on a different day...
I guess about 100 old fashioned yards from the house, there is a small stream and here I saw another interesting creature that I have neither seen before, or have much knowledge of...
And a short video of this creature...
You're going to know what this is (if you don't already) and I can only suggest that I think it must be a freshwater leech. It isn't like any I have seen before but can't think what else it could be.
This is more like the leeches I am used to seeing-these were in my little pond in the garden...
Well that just about wraps up another update-my final offering is this tiny rove beetle that I photographed on grass a few days ago...
Until the next time...
