"Barry & Iris McCanna" wrote
I grow a lot of different varieties of Aquilegia. Late summer last
year they were attacked by very small green caterpillars. It was only
the aquilegias that were affected. I managed to kill them all.
Yesterday I discovered the start of another mass attack, this much
earlier than last year. Again only the aquilegias. Has anyone any
idea what the culprit is? There aren't too many butterflies around
yet.

That's probably sawfly, the larvae will attack aquilegias. The plants
recover if damaged foliage is cut hard back.

Sue