Basil Munchers

Last week I was contacted on messenger to say that a nearby reader of this blog had found some caterpillars - would I like to see them? The next evening, a plastic tub with two noctuid larvae was delivered - many thanks to Debra Kitchen both for finding me via the blog and for bringing them around. They were found feeding on some organic Basil, which at least gave me a chance of rearing them as they were highly likely to be an unfussy polyphagous species. And in all honesty they were likely to be a common species, though at first glance I wasn't sure which. I was able to quickly get them feeding on dandelion, which wasn't lasting long, and last night I offered them a huge tomato leaf which has been demolished. They've already grown a fair bit in just five days, and although the general markings are the same they are different colours. I've now worked out that they are the two colour forms of Bright-line Brown-eye.

I'll keep them going for a while longer but these can go out to pupate before long.

Also growing well, remember that small first-instar Puss Moth I found at Croft Hill on 10th July? It's now looking a lot more like you'd expect a Puss Moth larva to look.

It still has a lot of growing to do though, only half way there.

Meanwhile, this week I have been listening to lots of Dreadzone ....