Tag Archives: Emperor Moth

Natural History

Insects on Thursley Common

Common Blue butterfly on Bell Heather
Don’t eat me!
Emperor moth caterpillar being eaten by ants

Thursley Common scene looking across bog with dead Pines, open lake with Canada geese, encroaching Birch scrub and Pine forest in the distance
Goldfinch atop Pine tree
Tailless Lizard on boardwalk
Honey-scented banks of Bell Heather, Gorse, Birch on Thursley Common
Bee-Wolf with Bee prey
Small Ammophila Sand-wasp, scurrying about in the heather searching for prey
Thursley Common: managing the heather by mowing irregular strips
Black-Tailed Skimmer

Keeled Skimmer
Black Darter, a tiny dragonfly
Common Darter
Thursley Common – the sandy paths full of sand-wasps and bee-wolves, the heather full of bees and grasshoppers

Also saw Common Blue Damselfly, Southern Hawker, Emperor Dragonfly.

Natural History

Drought, Baking Heat, Dragonflies … Thursley Common

Black Darters in wheeL The pools were very low from a month of drought, and many of the dragonflies correspondingly distant, but this pair came obligingly close.

Keeled Skimmer male sunbathing on boardwalk. Some definitely like it hot. Ask me about poikilothermy sometime, I’ll explain it to you.

Thursley Common boardwalk, bog, pools, pines, birch scrub, distant hills. A Hobby flew up, its back rather uniformly grey-brown. Seen soaring later from the side, its moustachial stripe was conspicuous.

Bordered Grey Moth, Selidosema brunnearia (a Geometrid)  in heather, its caterpillar’s favourite food

Beautiful Golden Y Moth, Autographa pulchrina (a Noctuid), hiding in heather

Robber fly on bell heather

Small Sand Wasp, Ammophila pubescens, continually in motion on a sandy path

Right at the end of the walk, a huge leaf-green Emperor Moth caterpillar (Saturnia pavonia), whorled with black tufts on each segment, walked briskly like a self-propelled cylindrical concertina across the boardwalk. Just as I grabbed my camera and leant up close, it fell down the gap between two planks and disappeared into the thick green grass below. It was a sight to behold, as long and thick as a finger.

Natural History

Monadhliath Mountains

Ambre, Roy and Noggin setting out into the mountains
Ambre, Roy and Noggin setting out into the mountains

Rhacomitrium heath on the Monadhliath Mountains
Rhacomitrium heath on the Monadhliath Mountains

Sphagnum rubrum
Rhacomitrium heath on the Monadhliath Mountains

Alpine Lady's Mantle
Alpine Lady’s Mantle

A Moss - green and red Sphagnum in a peat hag
A Moss – green and red Sphagnum in a peat hag

Northern Spinach Moth Eulithis populata (FP Bilberry)
Northern Spinach Moth Eulithis populata (FP Bilberry)

Pupating Emperor Moth Caterpillar Saturnia pavonia
Pupating Emperor Moth Caterpillar Saturnia pavonia

I was lucky enough to catch an Emperor Moth caterpillar in the act of preparing to pupate; the full-grown caterpillar with its hairy aposematic yellow-green body marked with black is tied on to the grass stems with a hundred silken threads.

Glorious lichened rock on summit
Glorious lichened rock on summit

On the summit ridge, this flat rock was covered with magnificently coloured lichens in shades of orange, yellow ochre, grey and white, with black, grey, brown or burgundy apothecia.

Herd of Red Deer on Sunlit Skyline
Herd of Red Deer on Sunlit Skyline

Towards the end of the eight-and-a-half-hour walk with the sun westering low over the hills, we caught sight of a herd of 32 hinds. The little Nikon captured this nice shot of them, all peering down at us from the skyline.