58.006 Large White eggs on broccoli, Skircoat Green allotments, Aug. 4th 2014.
58.006 Large White eggs as above and photographed the same day. As they begin to colour up hatching is imminent.
58.006 Large White 2nd instar caterpillars with shed skins and head capsules - three days after the above eggs hatched.
58.006 Large White caterpillars on cabbage, Skircoat Green allotments, June 28th 09. These are not really a pest in my view as they only nibble the outer leaves and are not nearly as destructive as Wood Pigeons - besides, who eats a whole cabbage anyway?
A visually underrated butterfly in my view.
58.007 Small White egg on kale, Skircoat Green allotments, May 7th 2011. This photo and the one below taken through a 20x microscope eyepiece.
58.007 Small White, a newly hatched caterpillar at 2mm long, May 7th 2011. Reared from the egg pictured above.
58.007 Small White caterpillar at 3 weeks old, May 28th 2011. Reared from the egg pictured above.
58.007 Small White pupa, June 5th, 2011, details above. A silk pad secures the rear end to the substrate as does a silk girdle around the middle. The wing pattern is clearly visible through the now transparent pupal case shortly before emergence.
58.007 Small White pupa on marjoram, Skircoat Green allotments, Aug. 14th 2012. As usual the larva has wandered before finding a suitable place to pupate, in this case probably from a nearby brussel sprout plant.
58.008 Green-veined White pupa on a Sycamore trunk by the towpath at Copley, Jan.1st 2014. I removed it from the trunk to rear through just to confirm its identity (see below).
58.008 Green-veined White pupa (details as above). As I haven't really done any mothing in the last 12 moths the pupa cuts a lonely figure in the rearing tub which is left in the garage over winter.
58.008 Green-veined White reared from the pupa pictured above, Mar. 14th 2014. It's resting on top of the flower pot lined with kitchen roll the pupa was in with not a scale out of place.
58.003 Orange-tip egg on Garlic Mustard next to the tow path at Copley, May 14th 2011. Although tiny, the bright orange egg is quite visible to the naked eye and is one of the easiest of all butterfly eggs to find.
58.003 Orange-tip egg found on Garlic Mustard by the Calder at Milner Royd, May 9th 2011. Taken through a 20x microscope eyepiece.
58.003 Orange-tip, a newly hatched caterpillar at 2mm long feeding on Garlic Mustard, May 11th 2011. Photographed through a 20x microscope eyepiece. As with the newly hatched Small White caterpillar above the hairs are tipped with a globules of liquid. For what reason I'm not quite sure.
58.003 Orange-tip caterpillar, May 20th 2011. Nine days old now and blending in well with the Garlic Mustard stem.
58.003 Orange-tip pre-pupal caterpillar on May 27th 2011. A week later and the caterpillar has spun a pad of silk at its rear end and a strand of silk around its middle to anchor itself to a twig.
58.003 Orange-tip chrysalis, May 29th 2011. Another of the caterpillars has just shed its final skin to reveal an amazing transformation.
58.003 Orange-tip chrysalis, Mar. 30th 2012. After over wintering it outdoors one of the chrysalises is now a much better camouflaged shade of brown to match the twig. The orange tips of the wings of this male are now beginning to show through.
58.003 Orange-tip, a freshly emerged adult next to a chrysalis which has coloured up and is on the verge of emerging. Apr.1st 2012.
This is pretty much the only time one of these has allowed a close approach, so much so this photo was taken with the Raynox lens attached.
58.003 Orange-tip male nectaring on Dandelion by the towpath near Elland by-pass, May 11th 05.
No comments:
Post a Comment