Day 38 and the butterflies have finally been released. This one took a little rest on the way. But also, good news: we’ve got another pot of caterpillars! So more to release in another month or so… #KatsCaterpillars 🐛🦋
We didn’t release them, because the weather’s been damp and cold and I wanted to give them a fighting chance. So they’re currently enjoying sugar water, flowers and some banana – which they seem to really like, who knew? It’s Day 36 #KatsCaterpillars 🐛🦋
Day 33 and I think, if it’s dry, we’ll release them later. In the end, three made it. Just the way it goes sometimes – nature can be brutal. But the three we have look strong 🐛🦋 #KatsCaterpillars
Day 30 and they’re all out, and all seem to be okay despite my pessimism, yay! I’ll get some better pics as their wings dry… and we’ll release them when we have a warm dry day, probably Tuesday… #KatsCaterpillars 🐛🦋
Day 28 and the first butterfly is out! (I have a feeling we may have a dead chrysalid 😢 but we will see) #KatsCaterpillars
Day 22: they were moved into the butterfly habitat a couple of days ago. The one on the bottom right looks very dark and I think it might emerge soon. They’ll enjoy the viburnum flowers so I’ll pop some in once they’re out #KatsCaterpillars 🐛🦋
Day 18, and they’re all chrysalids. Running a little bit behind this year. It’ll be another 5 days or so before they emerge #KatsCaterpillars 🐛🦋
Day 17: two chrysalids and two ‘J’s. Soon they’ll all be caterpillar goo, reforming into beautiful butterflies! #KatsCaterpillars 🐛🦋
Day 16 and, as promised, chrysalids! Since I took this photo this morning, there’s another J, too, so we’re on our way… #KatsCaterpillars 🐛 🦋
(10YO asked why the chrysalids are smaller than the caterpillars. Well, I said, one reason is the caterpillar’s head falls off 🙃)
Here we go, Day 15 and we have two ‘J’s! Chrysalids incoming… #KatsCaterpillars
And now it’s Day 14. Very chunky now, and all up on the lid. It won’t be long now… #KatsCaterpillars
Day 12! They’re getting chunky now, and it’s getting a bit grim in the pot! They’re still a few days off chrysalids, but it probably won’t be long: I expect they’ll be hanging from the lid in ‘J’ shapes in the next 48 hours #KatsCaterpillars
Day 7 of #KatsCaterpillars. One hasn’t made it 😢 (it happens sometimes), but we still have 4. They’re getting nice and chunky and starting to crawl up towards to the lid.
A clear pot with a white lid and dark caterpillars on beige food. The caterpillars are a couple of millimetres long.
A clear pot with a white lid and dark caterpillars on beige food. The caterpillars are a several millimetres long and already fatter than yesterday
It’s that time again! Time for… #KatsCaterpillars! 🐛 🦋
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly they grow. This is Day 1 into Day 2…
A painted lady butterfly, with orange and black markings, sitting on the fingers of a fair-skinned hand.
Day 30 of #KatsCaterpillars, and the final day! They’ve been released, and they all flew away – phew! Let’s hope they live successful, if short, lives. Happy full moon, little butterflies!
A painted lady butterfly, lit from behind so its wings are all oranges, reds and blacks.
Day 28 of #KatsCaterpillars, now butterflies! They’re all out now, and mostly look okay (one has a slightly oddly shaped body but seems to be able to use its wings). We’ll probably release them tomorrow while the weather is still sunny, to give them a couple of days before it turns again next week…
A painted lady butterfly with brown, white, red and black speckled wings.
Day #25 of #KatsCaterpillars and… the first butterfly is out! Yay! This is always a scary moment as they emerge with crumpled wings… will they be okay? This one seems to be (phew!)
Five green-gold-brown painted lady chrysalids, hanging from a white, circular cup lid, in a cylindrical netted butterfly habitat.
Day 20 of #KatsCaterpillars! They’re in the main habitat now. This time last year they were starting to emerge but they’re a little behind this year…
Four black-green-gold chrysalids hanging from the lid of a plastic cup. One caterpillar is a J shape, still fuzzy.
Day 15 of #KatsCaterpillars, and we have four chrysalids now, with one still to change. If you’re thinking that they’re much smaller as chrysalids, they are. Part of that is due to the fact that when they change, the old caterpillar’s head falls off
A green and gold painted lady chrysalid hanging from the lid of the pot the caterpillars were in. Three other caterpillars have formed the characteristic J shape and will change soon. One is still having a little wander around. There’s always one.
Day 14 of #KatsCaterpillars, and we have a chrysalid! Plus a couple of others that are almost there. If you zoom in you can see where the wings will be…
Now quite fat caterpillars, black with grey-ish markings, looking almost blue in places. They’re in a pot with increasingly depleted beige caterpillar food at the bottom.
Day 12 of #KatsCaterpillars. These guys are really going for size this year! Massive now and still not even starting to make J shapes on the lid. Come on you lot…
A close-up of a black-grey-white caterpillar in a pot containing beige caterpillar food. This one is now almost as long as the height of the pot. Four other caterpillars are out of focus in the background.
Day 10 of #KatsCaterpillars. They’re getting very big now. I expect chrysalids in the next couple of days…
Black caterpillars, now with visible white-ish markings on their backs, in a pot filled with beige caterpillar food
Close-up of a black caterpillar with brown and white-ish markings, in a pot filled with beige caterpillar food
Day 7 of #KatsCaterpillars – noticeably larger, starting to produce a lot of threads, and beginning to head for the roof of the cup. In a week or so, we’ll see chrysalids…
A skinny black caterpillar, now about 2.5cm long, in a clear pot with beige caterpillar food at the bottom.
Day 4 of #KatsCaterpillars and they’re noticeably longer now!
Small black caterpillars, 1–2cm long, in a white-topped plastic pot with about 2cm of beige caterpillar food in the bottom.
Small black caterpillars, now about 2cm long and a little fatter, in a white-topped plastic pot with about 2cm of beige caterpillar food in the bottom.
Aptly for the Worm Moon, we have caterpillars again! These two pictures are about 36 hours apart. The biggest caterpillar, however, is not cooperating and is hiding around the side in the more recent photo, so the size difference is not so obvious… 🐛
#KatsCaterpillars
Day 21 of #KatsCaterpillars and they’ve all been released. Goodbye, butterflies! This is a migratory species – who knows, maybe they’ll make it all the way to Northern Africa…
It’s Day 21 of #KatsCaterpillars, and we took the butterflies outside. Two flew away immediately and three… wanted to stay put. They refused to leave, even when we left the top open for an hour 😆 So, we brought them back inside. I’ll try again tomorrow when it’s warm.
It’s Day 20 of #KatsCaterpillars and they’re all out, and all healthy, hurrah (sadly, this isn’t the case every year). They’ll stay here until tomorrow afternoon, I think, and then we’ll release them. It’s too warm to keep them in for long.
Day 19! Three chrysalids are very dark this morning. I’ll be surprised if at least one doesn’t emerge pretty soon… #KatsCaterpillars
