Monday 16 July 2012

Orange and Yellow and Brown and _ _ _

We went to Messingham Sand Quarry LWT yesterday for once a glorious day, and whilst the skies blackened over for an hour it passed over and must have rained elsewhere.

Loads of Common Blue damselflies, butterflies doing what they do, flying! The only one I photographed was this Meadow Brown which I quite like on the yellow flowers. I did see a pair of Ringlets mating but too dark to photo.

There were lots of the caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth. Caterpillars are most evident when ragwort is in full flower. The caterpillar stage lasts about 1 month during which time it undergoes 5 moults.

When fully fed the caterpillars crawl away from the plants to pupate in a dry sheltered spot such as among the debris at the base of the plants or into crevices under logs, stones and lumps of earth.

The pupal stage is prolonged lasting about 9 months, and the moths do not emerge again until the following spring.

High losses can occur in winter if pupation sites are waterlogged, as pupae cannot stand prolonged immersion in water, although they can survive considerable desiccation.
graph.



The foilage is being eaten voraciously!


8 comments:

Roy said...

Yes that is a great shot of the Meadow Brown Mike.
You have to take what you can at the moment as there isn't much around.

Montanagirl said...

Super capture of the Meadow Brown!

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Thanks Roy & Montanagirl

Chris said...

Excellent set of pictures Mike...

Anonymous said...

The caterpillar is really cool.

canvas photo said...

really nice series of shots the Meadow Brown is a beautiful shot great work

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