Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Hatching moth (?) eggs
























About a week ago I noticed this cluster of tiny eggs on our broccoli plants, which I think must have been laid by a moth - cabbage white butterfly eggs are taller and yellow and look like this.



















I've been checking every day to see if they've hatched and yesterday, after a shower of rain ...



































.... I got there just in time to catch the last few hatching. As is usually the case with hatching caterpillars they ate the egg shells before they left. In this picture there are just six left unhatched (with the dark centres) which are in the act of chewing their way out of the egg shells.



































I'm not particularly keen on eating broccoli anyway (I'm more interested in the insects that feed on it), so will follow their progress as they chomp their way through the foliage. Top left here you can see a newly hatched caterpillar striding off to do just that.............


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