I've a few sets of pictures taken in the week before we sallied North to the Border lands, these ones of my seventh Hawk Moth of the year: a Small Elephant. Size apart, the species is subtly different from its Large Elephant relation; a more subdued combination of pink and greeny-yellow but just as satisfying.
The caterpillars are also very similar to the Large Elephant's and they often feed together. My brother and I found at least one when we went as schoolboys to comb the willowherb for larvae of both species on Leeds' ring road, at the well-informed suggestion of kindly and knowledgeable John Armitage of the City Museum.
I have only the Pine Hawk to go now, in terms of hawkmoths which have called here in the past (although I still live in hope and grow potatoes to tempt a visit from an immigrant Death's Head). Meanwhile the Eyed Hawk remains a frequent caller. A neighbour reports one in her bathroom while we were away, perhaps the chap below who was roosting in the trap last week.
No comments:
Post a Comment