Continuing the autumn theme, the small group that met at Staple Common last night caught two Autumnal Rustic. Otherwise it was a fairly low catch both species and numbers.

Today I had a great surprise when my wife came over from school with a caterpillar that the children had found crawling across the playground. A stunning example of the Sycamore larva was in a pot with some lettuce leaves that they had insisted on giving it. I suggested Field Maple or Horse Chestnut might be a better alternative and some egg boxes so that it could make its cocoon.

Sycamore larva

While collecting some Field Maple leaves for the Sycamore larva I came upon a quite large ladybird larva that I am now fairly convinced is that of the Harlequin Ladybird. Does anyone have experience of these and can confirm my suspicions?

Possible Harlequin Ladybird larva