I am no expert photographer, preferring to capture the moment than get a perfectly composed shot. The pictures on my blog are either taken with a compact Canon, a Panasonic Lumix FZ150 or on my phone.




Monday 20 September 2021

Peacock emergence

Most years I find several groups of Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars on nettles, but strangely this year I haven't found any at all. I had feared that the late spring had meant that very few had been able to breed this year, but luckily in August the Buddleia bank was covered in Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals, so they must have laid eggs on a patch of nettles close by, unnoticed by me!

Last year there were several groups of Peacock caterpillars on the nettles in my meadow. I collected a couple of caterpillars in June and kept them in a mesh cage so that I could watch then develop.

On 4th July both caterpillars crawled up to the top of the cage and formed a J-shape and they formed into chrysalises on the 7th July.

On the 31st July one emerged at 11am. As always I missed this happening, having checked the chrysalis a little earlier in the morning. So I placed the twig that the other chrysalis was attached to on my desk, next to where I was working. At 4.45pm I heard a crack and noticed that the chrysalis had split open, so I grabbed my phone and managed to film the butterfly emerging.

Chrysalises tend to colour up a couple of days before the butterfly emerges, so it is reasonably easy to know which day the emergence will happen. I I used to imagine that they would emerge in the morning of a sunny day, but I have known butterflies appear in the early hours of the morning through to late afternoon and I have also had them emerge on dull, rainy days.



It was such a thrill to see this butterfly emerge. By the time its wings had dried out it was too late to release it that day. The following morning it was still on its twig, so I took it outside into the sun where it quickly took off.





4 comments:

  1. all so exciting to see how they reproduce and that last butterfly is so beautiful.

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  2. Hello Nick,:=) It's one of natures great miracles, and I really enjoyed your video, and photos. It was a pleasure. :=)
    Take care.

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  3. Hello Nick, How are you, well I hope, You haven't posted for a while, Hope all is well.
    Thank you for your visit. I must say that your phone takes really good photos.
    Take care,:=)

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  4. Hello Nick,So nice to see you today! :=) It was a surprise to see your comment on my blog. I'm so sorry you are having such windy weather, and had your plants uprooted. I hope you can save the Buddleia plant, it attracts all the butterflies to it's blooms, but I didn't know there was a yellow one! Mine are lilac «or purple. Of course I hope you can save all your plants. It must be difficult to dig a hole deep enough with so much stone to contend with.
    I hope your weather improves.
    All the best, and good luck.:=)

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