Beautiful Butterflies 2018

Both correct Hazel.

WendyBartter said:

The proper sequence of events regarding my Butterflies  is that I brought home five of the many Peacock Butterfly larvae we came across on nettle at local reserve ... they were near pupation size & thought how wonderful it would be to try & capture emergence on cam!

Here's a slide show I made on 25th August after visiting Monkton Nature Reserve

(Please visit the site to view this video)

I fed them for a further four days until they pupated on 29th Aug ... unfortunately I was unable to record this process as they had attached themselves to net covering their pot but I did manage to watch one of them transforming, magical process!

I carefully cut round the net today & transferred to Butterfly House & attached with safety pins so very minimum disturbance, the fifth one decided to attach to the paper towel in the base ... not long to wait so I read, about two week's pupation!

Couldn't resist showing you their discarded skins with heads attached! Lol

Hard to believe such a very pretty & quite large Butterfly will come out of those pupal cases ... fingers firmly crossed that not parasitised (looking very healthy though) & beautiful things emerge ... I shall release them at MNR!

 

 

Only 10 days later & two have eclosed ... S.Law prevailed again, noticed that these two had gone completely black & feared the worst, gave a light misting to all & placed butterfly house beside me ................. edited & uploaded Mr K vid & when I looked the first one was out .......................went into kitchen to prepare veg for dinner & the second one sneaked out!!!!!!!

Sat down now avidly looking at the rest!   Pics to follow

I seem to remember an advert about Pandas & Kit-kat that sounds like that Wendy! Just don't get up for a comfort break (as they call it now).

Unknown said:

Hi Mike, your first butterfly is a Speckled Wood and 2nd possibly Gatekeeper as it appears to have two white spots inside the black one - but wait for the experts as I'm not sure.

Many thanks Hazel for the correction.

I will confess that when I was looking them up, it was a bit of a struggle, so I just plumped for a guess.

Hazel C said:

I seem to remember an advert about Pandas & Kit-kat that sounds like that Wendy! Just don't get up for a comfort break (as they call it now).

Like this one...

KIT KAT - Panda TV Advert

Sat eating dinner when #1 decides it's time to leave ... hasty transfer to another pot where it obliged with this pose

What a beauty!!  Had a shifty around so that the two could have Butterfly house with fresh flowers sprinkled with sugar water whilst the three pupae are in a big pot right under my nose ... I fear that one may have been parasitised!

WendyBartter said:

What a beauty!! 

Yep, I'd agree with that. Given the weather today they're better off with you I think!

Thanks Nige, not too bad here, your rain never reached us!

Ooh, lovely. You must feel like a proud parent. All your care and nurture has paid off.