Got many caterpillars?

[Colin_M]

I not complaining, but after seeing a few butterflies and the odd caterpillar several weeks ago, we don't seem to have very many at all here at the moment.

Are other people finding this?

Lets hope it isn't like last year where the caterpillars were around till the early autumn and ate absolutely everything (including swedes etc) even though I thought I'd netted correctly.

[Colin Miles]

It is too early. If the number of other butterflies like Orange Tip and the Blues are anything to go by here this could be a bumper year for them.

[Beryl]

Few cabbage whites about here. Not enough to worry about yet.

Beryl.

[glallotments]

It tend sto be August when we get the most caterpillars - we too netted last year and it was a success. The odd butterfly got in but no sign of caterpillars - hoping it works again this year.

[Colin_M]

It is too early.

Interesting, we had loads around in May. Since then, we've had a colder period and over the last couple of weeks, the only thing I've seen flying around have been bees (and a huge hornet that was trying to set up home in our shed )

[Nature's Babe]

one of my lettuce died from the root, I lifted it, not root aphids, not cutworm grub, but a cream coloured inch long caterpillar with a brown head,
almost like a centepedes little legs, weird, any ideas? Apparently we can expect more migrants from the continent with global warming, hoping there aren't any more of them.

[Johnboy]

Hi Nature's Babe,
I suspect that what you are describing is a vine weevil grub. I sincerely hope that I am totally wrong for your sake.
JB.

[alan refail]

It does sound rather like it, though an inch seems a bit long.

Was this it? In which case it is a vine weevil grub.

[Nature's Babe]

Thank you both. No it was slimmer longer and some deeper more opaque markings on its back.
I heard a very angry buzzing indoors today and it was the biggest hornet I have ever seen, I captured it in a glass, slid a paper under to cap it and set it free.

[Colin_M]

I heard a very angry buzzing indoors today and it was the biggest hornet I have ever seen

Interesting. As mentioned above, we had one a few weeks ago - I don't remember ever seeing one before and it's pretty spectacular isn't it! Especially the the low throbbing in the air (like a Lancaster Bomber from WW2) as it approaches

[Colin Miles]

Colin_M - what you thought were Cabbage White butterflies were probably female Orange Tip - which don't have Orange Tips - and maybe also Green-veined White. There were a lot of these around, hence my comments, and you need to look closely to tell them apart from the small Cabbage White.

[alan refail]

Hi NB

Good news --- and perhaps bad news

I'll give it another go. Was it like this?





If so, it's the larva of a Ghost moth (Hepialus humuli) which feeds on the roots of plants.

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=14

[Nature's Babe]

Thank you Alan, yes, that looks like it, well I just hope there was only one, the other lettuce still look fine, and the veg bed is right next to an area of lawn. They are rather handsome deep red frilly leaf lettuce, maybe that is what attracted the moth, lol

[Nature's Babe]

lol, Lancaster bombers does fit Colin, their buzz certainly gives adequate warning of their presence. I saw quite a few hornets last year, and bee flies, so that probably indicates quite a good population of bees locally.

[Colin_M]

These are pretty fuzzy, because I wasn't brave enough to walk any closer. It's hard to gauge the scale from these, but it was around 1 and 3/4 inches long: