66: EGGARS

66.007 Northern Eggar larva at 21mm found at Norland Bilberry slopes, Oct. 10th 09. I over wintered it outside at this stage where it would not feed again until the following March.

66.007 Northern Eggar larva and moulted skin, Apr. 13th 2010. After the winter diapause it was brought indoors where it began to feed up slowly on Ivy leaves. Each moult was preceded by 3 days of inactivity; it had appeared to have duplicated itself after this one.

66.007 Northern Eggar larva at 56mm, May 29th 2010. The final instar length was 60mm. As it grew larger I could hear it munching the Ivy leaves from across the room and also the frass pellets as they hit the bottom of the plastic pot at regular intervals.

66.007 Northern Eggar outer cocoon, June 25th 2010. After 3 months of feeding the larva finally spun up ready to pupate. It began by spinning a loose outer cocoon and then a tighter, more durable cocoon around itself.

66.007 Northern Eggar inner cocoon, July 20th 2010. The inner cocoon was extracted from the loosely spun outer cocoon and was over wintered again, this time as a pupa.

66.007 Northern Eggar male, May 22nd 2011. Finally, after caring for it for 19 months the moth emerged safely overnight. A lengthy rearing process the likes of which I'm unlikely to ever try again (hopefully...)

66.007 Northern Eggar larva at 16mm swept from Heather at Norland Bilberry slopes, Mar. 22nd 2016.

66.007 Northern Eggar cocoon at Jumble Hole, Apr. 25th 2016 found by Brian Leecy. The two small holes are exits made by parasitic wasp grubs. The cocoon contained a dead larva.

66.008 Fox Moth larva feeding on Heather on Norland moor, Aug. 30th 2017.

66.008 Fox Moth larva collected by day from Oxenhope moor by Chris Eastwood, Sept. 18th 2016. It was given to me to rear through - not a successful venture to say the least (see below).

66.008 Fox Moth larva as above, Sept. 23d 2016. After leaving its food alone for a day or two the reason why was soon clear - grub after grub of parasitic wasp began emerging from the larva, 24 in all. They in turn were reared through (see below).

Parasitoid wasp Cotesia gastropachae reared from the Fox Moth larva pictured above, Oct. 1st 2016.

66.008 Fox Moth female to MV light at Turgate Delph, Norland on June 17th 2022.

66.008 Fox Moths to MV light at Hollin Hall, Hardcastle Crags on May 25th 2023. Three of five females that morning, some of which had already begun egg laying.

66.008 Fox Moth eggs. A close-up of the eggs pictured above.

66.008 Fox Moth 1st instar larvae on June 5th 2023. Twelve days later and the eggs have hatched. The first job on the agenda is their first meal - the egg shells.

66.008 Fox Moth 1st instar larvae. A close-up of one of the above larvae. They all fed well on Bramble leaves.

66.010 Drinker larva near Sunderland Pasture plantation at Cragg Vale on June 21st 2023. It appears to have just passed a rather fibrous pellet of frass.

66.010 Drinker larva by the towpath at Ellen Royd, Luddenden Foot on June 3rd 2022. It's speedily searching for a suitable pupation site.

66.010 Drinker cocooon. Less than 24 hours later and the larva pictured above has already spun up. I only had some ferns growing in the garden to offer it but it seems to have done a good job. It incorporated countless body hairs in to the construction.

66.010 Drinker, just 20 days after the larva above spun its cocoon this lovely male emerged. It does make you wonder how a pupa full of mothy soup can metamorphose in to such a different looking organism so rapidly.

66.010 Drinker, a male to MV light at Manshead moor plantation, Ripponden on Aug. 11th 2023.

66.010 Drinker, a female to MV light at Hollas Lane nature reserve on July 23rd 2021. An incredible night of moth trapping with 117 species recorded and even a Gatekeeper butterfly entered the trap! An experience made all the better with fellow moth-ers Andy Cockroft and Matthew Broadbent who were present to make sure little went unnoticed.

66.010 Drinker, a female to MV light at Wham Leigh, Sowood on July 29th 2024.