Day 9: More Molting...

There is quite a bit of molting going on today. They stop eating and become very still in their webbing. Then, as you can see in the very right centre of the photo, they leave their old skins stuck in the fine thread.

Hiding today!

Day 7: I've tried to count how many...

... it's not an easy job!! I reckon there could be as many as 50, but they just keep moving!

These are just some of them

They are getting bigger all the time and molting too. I clean them out and give them fresh nettles every day. Here is photo of some the remnants they leave behind after a molt, plus all the webbing they use to secure themselves during the process, oh yeah and all the poop!!

It's quite fascinating (and disgusting)!

Day 5: Peacock caterpillars are big enough...

... after just 4 days, so it's time to go into the caterpillarium.

Day 1: Rescued caterpillars...

..are all safe! I've had to put them in a jar, as these fellas are so tiny I think they could escape from the caterpillarium. I unpicked an organza bag to use as a lid as they would easily fit through the netting I usually use.

They are so tiny! You just make them out behind the glass.
 (As always, click the photo for full size version)

Settling in their new home

I can't believe what happened today...

I have not searched for caterpillars at all this year, up until today! I had this overwhelming urge this afternoon to go and check the nettles behind our garage. To my complete astonishment I found these Peacock babies:

There are at least 3 times this amount again underneath the leaf

I then found another small nest just a few plants along. I know that these nettles will soon be cut down by the neighbour so I have moved them in with us.

I then walked up the road opposite never expecting to find anymore, that would just be greedy!

Nevertheless a few meters along the road I found this nest :

I've never seen so many caterpillars in one place!

About a meter from that nest I found another:

I'm not sure if these ones are Peacocks or Small Tortoiseshells, I will be keeping a close eye on them over the coming weeks and of course be updating on the progress of the rescued caterpillars.

The wait is over... (see previous post)

Yesterday afternoon I decided to see if the pot of soil that I had been storing for the past 8 months had any signs of life.

I carefully moved the dry leaves from the top and gently moved the very dry soil. A clump came away from the rest and inside this ball was a pupa lying in a space about 3 times its size.

As I moved the soil I saw that the pupa wriggle, I'd obviously disturbed the little "fella". I read somewhere that emerging moths require moisture so I sprayed the pot with water.

I checked on the pot first thing this morning, no signs of life. An hour later there was moth clinging to the side of the pot.

We'd never seen this species before and it took a while before we discovered it is a Clearwing Hummingbird Hawk Moth.

He spent some time in the same position just "vibrating" his wings

Photo is a snapshot from a video (to come soon!)

Then came time for release on this beautiful sunny day. With all the activity in the caterpillarium I thought once I opened the side it would be straight off, but no...

Second side off, still no movement, so I put in my hand and it climbed right on and sat for sometime, just preparing for take off. I always say this, I know, but I never imagined that he would climb on my hand . I have some Aquilegia flowers in the garden and thought that this would be a good place for it, then in a flash off it went.

A Hummingbird Hawk Moth Caterpillar (Possibly!)

I found this caterpillar on our privet hedge, Friday (8th September):

I tried looking up what he was, from last weeks experience I could tell he was some kind of hawk moth, but which one? He didn't have any real stand out features except his spots and a faint stripe down his back joining at his tail. All the photos I saw online had features that were a lot more distinct. So my conclusion is that he is a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. (Which would make sense as we had 2 resident on our lavender all summer!) What still doesn't make sense is that it was eating the privet hedge, but looks nothing like a Privet Hawk Moth. I don't know!!!

A naf photo but the only one showing the stripe

So, I found out what they need to pupate and decided I would keep him just to satisfy my curiosity. And just in time too as Sunday morning he had stopped eating and looked quite dramatically different:

Looks more like a puppy dog!?!

He stayed in this position for quite a while getting darker and darker:

When he finally moved he started flicking about and staying in this position. It looked like it was definitely time to pupate:

I found a clear pot and put some earth in the bottom with some dried leaves on top as I wasn't exactly sure what he would prefer. This burying yourself to pupate is all new to me! Then some privet as a climbing frame:

It wasn't long before he was in the pot rummaging around for good spot. It was late afternoon on Sunday (10th September) when he finally disappeared. Now I have placed netting over the top of the pot and placed it in a cool place. I guess he will overwinter and I will have to wait until the weather warms up next year to see what he really is!