Devon SSSI nature reserve and eco lodges - Maggie's Blog
26 July
Amazing caterpillars and glossy beetles...
Sometimes it's the small stuff that catches your eye - this is a vapourer moth caterpillar that George proudly brought in. And the beetle is the gardener's friend, the violet ground beetle. The kids found lots of them unable to escape from a water trough, providing a chance for a close up look and a sketch by my wildlife-artist sister...
Maybe they'll make it into one of her prints one day.
Vapourer moth larvae, by the way, can be surprisingly common, found in parks and gardens sometimes in numbers high enough to strip small trees of their leaves!