Hi All, I took an executive decision & decided to amalgamate the Butterfly & Moth threads which may make it easier to find if it's used more!
These are the old threads from 2019 Beautiful butterflies https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/200195/beautiful-butterflies-2019#pifragment-4285=1
& Mostly Moths https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/198118/mostly-moths-2019/1273216#pifragment-4285=1
To start us off here are a few from the recent traps & wine rope,
this is a lovely Satelite from the 8th january
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Seems the bee/butterfly friendly flowers I put on the balcony have paid off already with visits from a Small White and a Small Tortoiseshell .....
must have been a hairy caterpillar once lol
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Regards, Hazel
Today was the day ....
Ladies and Gentlemen I present an absolutely pristine Red Admiral
Cin J
How lovely Caroline, did you actually see it emerge?
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Rescued from inside my shed this afternoon - a male Orange Swift
Kind regards, Ann
WendyBartter said:How lovely Caroline, did you actually see it emerge?
I missed the emergence - I thought we were close as I thought I saw movement yesterday but I had to go survey this morning and it had emerged while I was out
A day of caterpillars here ... two of these from a very good friend (they survived overnight in the post)... still trying to ID but suspecting my 'ole faithfull' ???
He kept trying to hide so lured him along ruler with a dandelion leaf! Lol
Then was called next door where he reported some caterpillars on an ornamental Weeping Willow ... what a surprise I had when I came across at least 25 to 30 big boys happily munching the leaves, never seen so many outside of Cabbage White ones on Nasturtiums!!
Was difficult for pics in the bright sun & made more of a challenge in the teeth of a gale
They are Buff-tip & usually feed in big groups like this ... I have four in a pot which I shall measure later & get clearer shots of, they pupate around 75mm ... I remember having one before but it had pupated by time I got it home so never had a pic of the caterpillar to ID ... successfully overwintered the pupa & nicely surprised to see a beautiful Buff-tip moth emerge!