"ned" wrote in message
...

"Kay" wrote in message
...
In article , Philip
writes
"ajr" wrote in message news:41a5af78$1_1@mk-nntp-
2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
Good morning,

A bit surprised to see about 20 caterpillars eating my winter
cabbages this
morning. They were roughly 2-3cm long, 'hairy' and black /
yellow.

What were they, and more to the point what the hell were they
doing in the
garden in November?!?!! I assume that the lack of frost has
meant that they
have been happily munching away since the early autumn -
*******s.


Do they look like these ?

http://www.srbild.de/bild/bild598.jpg

These are the ones that attack Verbascum. But thats normally in
June.
Maybe you have a batch that have hatched, found no Verbascums to
eat
and so are making do with whatever they can find.

Without looking them up, I'm not sure what those are, but Verbascum
has
its own special caterpillar, the larva of the Mullein moth.

Caterpillars are fairly specific in their food plants, to the extent
that one of the field guides classifies them according to food
plant.
Something that eats Verbascum is unlikely also to eat cabbage.

The cabbage caterpillars sound rather like Large White.

I agree with Kay. 'Unlikely to be the Mullein moth.
Its way out of season for them and - they 'aint hairy.
The Large Whites are more likely to have multiple generations each
year.

--
ned

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk
last update 12.11.2004



Thanks to everyone for their replies.

Almost one hundred percent sure that it is the Large White, as mentioned by
Kay and Ned - will double check later in the day.

http://www.butterflygarden.co.uk/but...w_cat_3681.jpg

Are they usually around this late in the year?