Of Caterpillars and Chrysalises Part 2

Continued from my previous post.

I can’t believe the number of eggs I have found this year of Large Whites, Small Whites and Green-veined Whites. There have been a lot of adults flying around and my Nasturtiums have been covered in eggs. 

The Large White lays its eggs in batches on the underside of the leaves.

The other two species lay their eggs individually anywhere on the plant. They have also been laying eggs on a Rocket plant growing in our patio and on Bittercress and Garlic Mustard.

I tried to photograph some Large White eggs and various stages of their development as caterpillars, but there were so many different batches of eggs I couldn’t keep track of which were which.

There were so many caterpillars that some of the Nasturtiums were completely stripped of leaves. I tried to pick leaves from other plants, but discovered that most of them had new batches of eggs on them. So, I resorted to buying bags of Curly Kale to try to keep the caterpillars alive! I have never seen so many caterpillars!

Once they were ready to form chrysalises they crawled up the wall of the house to find a sheltered spot.

Unfortunately, a few were parasitized by Braconid wasps. Presumably the adults had laid eggs inside the caterpillars at some point and the larvae burst out of the chrysalises to pupate.

And the Bluetits learned where to look for the caterpillars, flying up to the wall and picking off the chrysalises. Even the chrysalises that I had thought were safe were picked off by wasps, biting into the chrysalis and managing to prize them off the wall! I was feeling a bit despondent, seeing so many chrysalises perish after I had put the effort in to save the caterpillars. 

However, I needn't have worried. One day I noticed a Small White butterfly emerging from under the Alpine trough. I had a look underneath the trough and there were several more Small White chrysalises under there.

During the late summer/early autumn there have been loads of Large Whites, Small Whites and Green-veined Whites flying around.

On 12th July I noticed a hutchisonii form of Comma laying eggs on the nettles behind my garage. I wasn’t able to look for the eggs for fear of being stung, but on the 7th August, I was walking past the garage when I spied a little face peeking out from below a nettle leaf. It was a Comma caterpillar.

I watched it for a few days and on the 10th August it formed a chrysalis.

Unfortunately, it is now the end of September and nothing has emerged from the chrysalis, so I fear it may have failed.

I was down in my meadow one day in August, when I noticed a nettle bouncing around. I couldn't understand why it was moving like that on a still day. On closer inspection I noticed that the top leaves were stitched together and on top of the leaves was a parasitic Ichneumonid wasp.

I chased the wasp away and investigated further and found a Red Admiral chrysalis inside the nettle leaves. A little later when I walked back the nettle was bouncing around again and the wasp was back. So I decided to pick the nettle and put it in a mesh cage. I thought that in a few weeks I would either have a Red Admiral or a number of wasps! Luckily it was a Red Admiral that emerged from the chrysalis about three weeks later.

I don't think I have ever known such a good year for finding caterpillars and chrysalises!