Growing Moths
Monday, July 11th 2016
The showery weather from the night before gave the reserve a muggy air. The reserve was a fairly quiet place today, the heavy showers seemed to keep folk at bay. On the positive side the lack of distractions enabled us to get a few jobs done in the field centre such as office paperwork catch up, plus a few repairs. Even the White Ermine moth caterpillars got their weekly clean out.
The caterpillars are growing at a fair rate. They pass through a number of instars or growth moults, before pupating. Over night we were suprised to see how some of them have changed, from the small brown caterpillar at the top of the picture to the larger hairy version below! They are almost unrecognisable as the same thing! The caterpillars are still very active and are a lot of fun to watch.
This Ringlet butterfly is a common sight on the reserve at present.
In not such large numbers are Common Blue butterflies. This one was on the wetland, feeding from Selfheal.
.JPG)
(0) Comments:
There are no comments for this blog post yet. Why not start the discussion? - use the form below:
Help Support Foxglove
Friends of Foxglove
The Friends of Foxglove Covert is for those individuals, families and organisations who would like to support the reserve through an annual membership subscription. Friends receive a regular newsletter and invitations to attend our various activities and social events.
More DetailsUndergrowth Newsletter
The Dragonflies of Strensall and Foxglove Covert
This book has been published with the aim of enabling people visiting these, immensely important Flagship Pond Sites in North Yorkshire, to identify the dragonflies and damselflies they encounter - by reference to a simple text and photographs. Credits - Yorkshire Dragonfly Group & Freshwater Habitats Trust
View All The Newsletters