The title of this post may refer to my attempts in finding a caterpillar I’m after. However, it’s actually standing for the loss in individuals on the journey from egg to butterfly.
Today I tried another time finding caterpillars of the Purple Emperor (Apatura iris), Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia), Scarce Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis xanthomelas) and Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa). And again, it was only caterpillars of moths, the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) and the Common Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) that I found.
Nevertheless, the search will continue. Here’s the footage from today, a 4 hours trip into the greenery. To start with, a spider generated a rather dramatic scenario feeding on the colony of young Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars. Remember, 1 out of 100.
Here’s a series of other caterpillars I spotted today.
At the end even the sun started to shine and for the first time since a couple weeks I got some butterfly shots as well.
