Caterpillars

And a very unfortunate Large White caterpillar, which by the way would have had to fall off the wall to wind up like this (with all those hooks on their feet, I couldn't believe this). But everyone has to eat...

I had always thought that if they got to this stage they wouldn't really be paratisized by anything but as you can see on my note, this tiny wasp is sure thinking about it!!

About a month before this we found this lovely Garden Tiger caterpillar on umbifers, in a footpath where it is likely the council in their wisdom will come along and weed wack. So we brought it home as this species is one in serious decline for me to rear. He did really well for nearly a month, and finally right on time decided to pupate. I left him to it for the first 48 hours when it should be safe to check it and move it if needed and it still was in caterpillar. I was gutted wondering what I might have been able to do different to make sure it was ok. A day or so later (just in case) I had a check again and found 8 or 9 of these pupa in near it, now there is no possible way this happened after we brought it home, so out of curiousity I waited until some of them emerged expecting some parasitic wasp or something, and no it was Flesh Flies. I had no idea that flies would paratise a living caterpillar. Sad as it is, its nature and was interesting to see the results.

Okay, one of my favorite flowers on my Patio/Balcony is Nasturtium, for one thing the flowers are really nice, it grows well quickly and it feeds loads of critters which is what 99.9% of all plants on my patio do. I have had rapeseed growing before but this year only one showed up, and my nasturtiums didn't reappear at all, and a few weeks back I noticed the Large Whites visiting the patio, so thought 'Well I'd better get something they can lay eggs on'. Went to my local place bought two 3" pots and was ready to plant them the next day when I saw this! Now you know that no Whites came along and laid eggs over night that hatched out and became caterpillars this big!! The nerve of them selling me Large White butterflies...lol In any case sadly a couple days later they turned out to be bird food for the family of Sparrow that had been frequenting my patio, and I only had three left as of a couple days ago. Two left home to pupate and one is still feeding up!

A very helpful moth decided to lay her eggs on our egg carton, makes sense to me.

These guys have been feeding on my wall on the balcony at night, they are lichen eaters so technically they keep my wall clean :)

These guys have been feeding on my wall on the balcony at night, they are lichen eaters so technically they keep my wall clean :)

One of the big female Vapourer caterpillars protesting me messing about with her.

One of the big females from inside, wish I had a video, was dancing on the smooth surface round and round. More updates to the Vapourer moth caterpillars we had, they have since pupated and emerged will update with more photos soon.

One from inside having a wander while the container gets a clean and fresh food. They pupated a couple days later. More updates to the Vapourer moth caterpillars we had, they have since pupated and emerged will update with more photos soon.

One of the male final instar from inside. More updates to the Vapourer moth caterpillars we had, they have since pupated and emerged will update with more photos soon.

There were loads of these guys, and I have a couple of pots of bramble on the balcony so this is one of the ones we put outside. We also released about 70 on other wild places. More updates to the Vapourer moth caterpillars we had, they have since pupated and emerged will update with more photos soon.

There were loads of these guys, and I have a couple of pots of bramble on the balcony so this is one of the ones we put outside. We also released about 70 on other wild places. More updates to the Vapourer moth caterpillars we had, they have since pupated and emerged will update with more photos soon.

They are not real cooperative at this age..lol Sorry for the poor quality but you get the idea, two different stages are here. More updates to the Vapourer moth caterpillars we had, they have since pupated and emerged will update with more photos soon.

He was on some apple we had gathered to feed to the Green-brindled Crescent.

LGC will need an ID but I liked the way its boxed itself in a bit..lol One from the Church Wood Sussex Moth Group, Hastings Branch moth event.

Not sure who yet, will have to have a look, but if you look to the right side of the mine, a yellowish line is the caterpillar.