I was inspecting some Mullein plants in my garden this morning and noticed that they were not in good shape, and the culprits were making no attempt to conceal their activities:
These larvae are threatening to demolish the plants before they get a chance to flower, which is a shame. Normally I would have transferred at least some of them to buddleia, of which I have several large bushes, but for some reason they are not in good shape either. Is anyone else having problems with buddleia? Several of mine appear to be dead, and others are producing only partial growth. It's not looking good for the local butterfly population this year.
Returning to the subject of moth larvae, I had another interesting find this afternoon whilst gathering some mint:
I believe that it might be a Scarlet Tiger Moth larva but I'm not sure, never having seen one, so confirmation or alternative suggestions would be welcome. Although found on a mint plant it doesn't seem to have been eating it.
Update: the larva has rested up and changed to another instar and a colour change has occurred:
I'm now thinking that it's an Emperor Moth larva! My apologies to Sally but the mistake was a genuine one based on the previous and entirely different colour form. It makes the choice of food plant much simpler and I'll probably try to rear it in the hope that it might be a female.
Looks like a tiger moth caterpillar. I get them quite a lot in the polytunnel. My buddleia are not doing well either - it is very dry. Digging up dock and the ground is dry a fair way down - and not much rain forecast for weeks. Moth catches very disappointing and only a few micros in the buttercups this year. More exciting was a Cauchas fibulella in the extensive patches of speedwell here, but just one seen so far.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sally, I'd be grateful if you'd tell me what they're eating in your polytunnel, this one hasn't moved since I put it in a pot with some mint yesterday. Looks as though mint isn't a food choice, but it may just be metamorphosising. Yes it's very dry here too and that may well be responsible for the buddleia's plight. We had a few sharp frosts earlier in the year but they've survived worse before, they're pretty hardy plants!.
ReplyDeleteI have fennel and strawberries in the polytunnel throughout the year then various salad crops and sweetcorn. By the entrance is lots of comfrey which I understand is a food plant for this species so I think that is what attracts them in there..
ReplyDeleteThanks Sally, I haven't noticed any comfrey on our land recently and there's none anywhere near where the caterpillar was found. It's still inactive, I'll probably release it close to where I found it and wish it luck!
ReplyDelete... they also eat bramble, meadow sweet, sallow and blackthorn according to my ID Guide to Caterpillars book.
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