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| Vapourer Caterpillar |
In the garden the hoped-for return of the marsh tit has not materialised. On investigation of the sudden decline of one of my pot plants I was however able to identify the culprit as a rather pretty caterpillar. I reckon it to be the caterpillar of the vapourer moth, one of the more spectacular varieties.
I think that if I'd photographed it from the side, there would be more red spots visible on its leg hairs. It has certainly vapourised a large part of the plant in question.
Dry weather has continued but I had to wait until Wednesday before attempting the Big Butterfly Count.
I put in a couple of sessions at the Spetchells and apart from very many small whites, there was a good head of speckled wood, several meadow brown, a sprinking of small heath and ringlets, four green-veined white, two common blue and a single small copper.
On the other hand dingy skipper did not appear and one other suspected skipper could not be identified. On the way there were a few large white by the river but they didn't show on the hills.
On Thursday I did a long walk in Derwentside Park with a friend, when there were scores of speckled wood and a dozen or so meadow brown. The two most interesting things we saw though were a male bullfinch close up in the undergrowth and a comma puddling where some dogs had been going in and out of the river. We were also struck by the number of wild cherry trees.
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I did this time catch up with a few small skippers and also a shaded broad bar moth - or so I gather.
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