Post by alf1951 on Sept 6, 2015 7:58:35 GMT
Maybe it's an age thing or, more likely, just an "Alf without his thinking head on" thing. A couple of days ago I found a black hairy larva with a distinctive dorsal stripe making its way across a wall of the house. Something vaguely familiar about it, photograph taken, I decided to wade through UKLeps to ID it rather than just put a post on here.
Feathered Footman - Spiras striata - that looks like the one, the time of year was right, but my larva was bigger - worse still, this moth hasn't been see in the UK since the 19th century! Unlikely. Further down the list another look-alike but the dorsal stripe wasn't quite right and size was still issue.
In spite of tea and meal breaks, I'm flagging now - over 600 varieties of moth and butterfly larvae viewed and none of them match mine exactly. Then, down in the W's, there it was - right size, right time of year, right dorsal stripe - the six hundred and umpteenth moth on the list - the White Ermine - Hooray!
Hang on - I do know that moth. Checked my computer records and yes, there it is along with a photo of its larva - taken outside the house in 2014 and almost to the day.
I do hope I've learned something!
Alf
Feathered Footman - Spiras striata - that looks like the one, the time of year was right, but my larva was bigger - worse still, this moth hasn't been see in the UK since the 19th century! Unlikely. Further down the list another look-alike but the dorsal stripe wasn't quite right and size was still issue.
In spite of tea and meal breaks, I'm flagging now - over 600 varieties of moth and butterfly larvae viewed and none of them match mine exactly. Then, down in the W's, there it was - right size, right time of year, right dorsal stripe - the six hundred and umpteenth moth on the list - the White Ermine - Hooray!
Hang on - I do know that moth. Checked my computer records and yes, there it is along with a photo of its larva - taken outside the house in 2014 and almost to the day.
I do hope I've learned something!
Alf
