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#16
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 19:12:41 +0100, sacha wrote:
On 2013-08-13 11:50:09 +0000, David in Normandy said: On 13/08/2013 13:34, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote: On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:50:48 +0200, David in Normandy wrote: Just found a huge caterpillar while harvesting some potatoes. Never seen one this big in my life. Anyone recognise it or know what butterfly or moth variety it belongs to? http://s288.photobucket.com/user/uyq...illar.jpg.html Normally I kill caterpillars but didn't have the heart to kill this magnificent beast despite it scoffing my potato foliage; so I released it elsewhere in the garden. I'm fairly certain it's a European death's head hawk moth Acherontia atropos. If you are impressed by the caterpillar just wait until you see the moth. They are about 5" across. I raised one in a shoe box all the way to moth stage when I was a kid. They can make rather surprising sounds. They will kill honey bees to get into hives for the honey if that's relevant. The bees don't fight back. Steve Oh dear me! I released the caterpillar near to a tree where some bees set up a hive a few months ago. I can't find the caterpillar now. It looks as if it's the moths that ignore/kill the bees, not the caterpillars. I do hope he or she is hotfooting it back to your potato patch though that wish may not too popular with you! One site I looked at said that every lepidopterist should try to raise at least one death's head hawk caterpillar to moth incarnation! Yes, it's the moth that likes honey. The caterpillar does not need to be in a potato patch as they have a wide diet. The one I had was fed on dandelion, daisy and nightshade leaves. Steve -- EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com |
#17
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
"sacha" wrote in message ... On 2013-08-13 18:42:13 +0000, David in Normandy said: On 13/08/2013 20:12, sacha wrote: On 2013-08-13 11:50:09 +0000, David in Normandy said: On 13/08/2013 13:34, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote: On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:50:48 +0200, David in Normandy wrote: Just found a huge caterpillar while harvesting some potatoes. Never seen one this big in my life. Anyone recognise it or know what butterfly or moth variety it belongs to? http://s288.photobucket.com/user/uyq...illar.jpg.html Normally I kill caterpillars but didn't have the heart to kill this magnificent beast despite it scoffing my potato foliage; so I released it elsewhere in the garden. I'm fairly certain it's a European death's head hawk moth Acherontia atropos. If you are impressed by the caterpillar just wait until you see the moth. They are about 5" across. I raised one in a shoe box all the way to moth stage when I was a kid. They can make rather surprising sounds. They will kill honey bees to get into hives for the honey if that's relevant. The bees don't fight back. Steve Oh dear me! I released the caterpillar near to a tree where some bees set up a hive a few months ago. I can't find the caterpillar now. It looks as if it's the moths that ignore/kill the bees, not the caterpillars. I do hope he or she is hotfooting it back to your potato patch though that wish may not too popular with you! One site I looked at said that every lepidopterist should try to raise at least one death's head hawk caterpillar to moth incarnation! He'd better hurry up because I'm harvesting all the potatoes, a couple of rows each day. They will all be up within a fortnight. I'm determined not to leave them in the ground too late this year - I had problems with blight last year rotting the tubers and the ones that seemed OK didn't keep well over winter. The potato tops are starting to yellow a bit now, so I think its time to lift them... got a bumper crop of large spuds too. Variety = Daisy. They are great for chips. Oh please leave a couple of plants for him! He won't be worrying you much longer! -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon Everyone seems to think in the singular, I wonder if there are more? Bill |
#18
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-14 10:04:08 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme said:
On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 19:12:41 +0100, sacha wrote: On 2013-08-13 11:50:09 +0000, David in Normandy said: On 13/08/2013 13:34, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote: On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:50:48 +0200, David in Normandy wrote: Just found a huge caterpillar while harvesting some potatoes. Never seen one this big in my life. Anyone recognise it or know what butterfly or moth variety it belongs to? http://s288.photobucket.com/user/uyq...illar.jpg.html Normally I kill caterpillars but didn't have the heart to kill this magnificent beast despite it scoffing my potato foliage; so I released it elsewhere in the garden. I'm fairly certain it's a European death's head hawk moth Acherontia atropos. If you are impressed by the caterpillar just wait until you see the moth. They are about 5" across. I raised one in a shoe box all the way to moth stage when I was a kid. They can make rather surprising sounds. They will kill honey bees to get into hives for the honey if that's relevant. The bees don't fight back. Steve Oh dear me! I released the caterpillar near to a tree where some bees set up a hive a few months ago. I can't find the caterpillar now. It looks as if it's the moths that ignore/kill the bees, not the caterpillars. I do hope he or she is hotfooting it back to your potato patch though that wish may not too popular with you! One site I looked at said that every lepidopterist should try to raise at least one death's head hawk caterpillar to moth incarnation! Yes, it's the moth that likes honey. The caterpillar does not need to be in a potato patch as they have a wide diet. The one I had was fed on dandelion, daisy and nightshade leaves. Steve Well, let's hope he finds all those. Nightshade would be in the potato family, wouldn't it? The Solanaceae? And the other two are Asteraceae, so those must be the preferred food for that caterpillar, presumably. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon www.helpforheroes.org.uk |
#19
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:46:40 +0100, Sacha wrote:
Well, let's hope he finds all those. Nightshade would be in the potato family, wouldn't it? The Solanaceae? And the other two are Asteraceae, so those must be the preferred food for that caterpillar, presumably. The one I had preferred deadly night shade leaves. Mum played hell with me for just picking the leaves. That's were the best caterpillars lived! Steve -- EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com |
#20
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-14 15:33:44 +0000, Stephen Wolstenholme said:
On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:46:40 +0100, Sacha wrote: Well, let's hope he finds all those. Nightshade would be in the potato family, wouldn't it? The Solanaceae? And the other two are Asteraceae, so those must be the preferred food for that caterpillar, presumably. The one I had preferred deadly night shade leaves. Mum played hell with me for just picking the leaves. That's were the best caterpillars lived! Steve Yes, it was one of those "we're all going to die plants" in my childhood! But sensibly, I had very strict instructions never to eat any plant at all without checking with a grown up! As an aside, living right by the sea, we children all believed implicitly that sea anemones, which we called bloodsuckers, really did do just that! -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon |
#21
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-14 11:50:56 +0000, Bill Grey said:
"sacha" wrote in message ... On 2013-08-13 18:42:13 +0000, David in Normandy said: On 13/08/2013 20:12, sacha wrote: On 2013-08-13 11:50:09 +0000, David in Normandy said: On 13/08/2013 13:34, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote: On Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:50:48 +0200, David in Normandy wrote: Just found a huge caterpillar while harvesting some potatoes. Never seen one this big in my life. Anyone recognise it or know what butterfly or moth variety it belongs to? http://s288.photobucket.com/user/uyq...illar.jpg.html Normally I kill caterpillars but didn't have the heart to kill this magnificent beast despite it scoffing my potato foliage; so I released it elsewhere in the garden. I'm fairly certain it's a European death's head hawk moth Acherontia atropos. If you are impressed by the caterpillar just wait until you see the moth. They are about 5" across. I raised one in a shoe box all the way to moth stage when I was a kid. They can make rather surprising sounds. They will kill honey bees to get into hives for the honey if that's relevant. The bees don't fight back. Steve Oh dear me! I released the caterpillar near to a tree where some bees set up a hive a few months ago. I can't find the caterpillar now. It looks as if it's the moths that ignore/kill the bees, not the caterpillars. I do hope he or she is hotfooting it back to your potato patch though that wish may not too popular with you! One site I looked at said that every lepidopterist should try to raise at least one death's head hawk caterpillar to moth incarnation! He'd better hurry up because I'm harvesting all the potatoes, a couple of rows each day. They will all be up within a fortnight. I'm determined not to leave them in the ground too late this year - I had problems with blight last year rotting the tubers and the ones that seemed OK didn't keep well over winter. The potato tops are starting to yellow a bit now, so I think its time to lift them... got a bumper crop of large spuds too. Variety = Daisy. They are great for chips. Oh please leave a couple of plants for him! He won't be worrying you much longer! -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon Everyone seems to think in the singular, I wonder if there are more? Bill It would be nice to think there might be more but does anyone know how scarce they are in northern France, or how prolifically they lay? -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon |
#22
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:30:20 +0100, sacha wrote:
On 2013-08-14 15:33:44 +0000, Stephen Wolstenholme said: On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:46:40 +0100, Sacha wrote: Well, let's hope he finds all those. Nightshade would be in the potato family, wouldn't it? The Solanaceae? And the other two are Asteraceae, so those must be the preferred food for that caterpillar, presumably. The one I had preferred deadly night shade leaves. Mum played hell with me for just picking the leaves. That's were the best caterpillars lived! Steve Yes, it was one of those "we're all going to die plants" in my childhood! But sensibly, I had very strict instructions never to eat any plant at all without checking with a grown up! As an aside, living right by the sea, we children all believed implicitly that sea anemones, which we called bloodsuckers, really did do just that! It's pretty when in flower. When I was young we were told that a sixpence size circle cut from one of the leaves would be a turn on. One of the gang tried a circle but it had no effect at all. I stood on a spiked anemone once and I could not walk after. My wife had to pull all the spines out with tweezers. It hurt but didn't suck my blood! Steve -- EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com |
#23
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-15 10:21:58 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme said:
On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:30:20 +0100, sacha wrote: On 2013-08-14 15:33:44 +0000, Stephen Wolstenholme said: On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:46:40 +0100, Sacha wrote: Well, let's hope he finds all those. Nightshade would be in the potato family, wouldn't it? The Solanaceae? And the other two are Asteraceae, so those must be the preferred food for that caterpillar, presumably. The one I had preferred deadly night shade leaves. Mum played hell with me for just picking the leaves. That's were the best caterpillars lived! Steve Yes, it was one of those "we're all going to die plants" in my childhood! But sensibly, I had very strict instructions never to eat any plant at all without checking with a grown up! As an aside, living right by the sea, we children all believed implicitly that sea anemones, which we called bloodsuckers, really did do just that! It's pretty when in flower. When I was young we were told that a sixpence size circle cut from one of the leaves would be a turn on. One of the gang tried a circle but it had no effect at all. I stood on a spiked anemone once and I could not walk after. My wife had to pull all the spines out with tweezers. It hurt but didn't suck my blood! Steve By 'spiked', do you mean a sea urchin, which is a rather more fearsome beast. It's what the French call 'oursin'. I'm thinking of those little blood-red blobs of jelly that cling to rocks but aren't spiny. When covered with sea water they have little fronds that wave to and fro. If you trod on a sea urchin, you have my sympathy. I knew someone who knelt on one in Corsica, refused first-aid treatment and so had about two weeks of applying ointment and waiting for the spines to emerge and be pulled out. Nasty! -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon www.helpforheroes.org.uk |
#24
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-14 12:50:56 +0100, Bill Grey said:
"sacha" wrote in message ... snip Oh please leave a couple of plants for him! He won't be worrying you much longer! Everyone seems to think in the singular, I wonder if there are more? Bill It would be nice if there are but they seem to be on the rare side in northern Europe. And I can't find any reference to them being poisonous. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon www.helpforheroes.org.uk |
#25
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On Thu, 15 Aug 2013 10:38:03 +0100, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-08-15 10:21:58 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme said: On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:30:20 +0100, sacha wrote: On 2013-08-14 15:33:44 +0000, Stephen Wolstenholme said: On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:46:40 +0100, Sacha wrote: Well, let's hope he finds all those. Nightshade would be in the potato family, wouldn't it? The Solanaceae? And the other two are Asteraceae, so those must be the preferred food for that caterpillar, presumably. The one I had preferred deadly night shade leaves. Mum played hell with me for just picking the leaves. That's were the best caterpillars lived! Steve Yes, it was one of those "we're all going to die plants" in my childhood! But sensibly, I had very strict instructions never to eat any plant at all without checking with a grown up! As an aside, living right by the sea, we children all believed implicitly that sea anemones, which we called bloodsuckers, really did do just that! It's pretty when in flower. When I was young we were told that a sixpence size circle cut from one of the leaves would be a turn on. One of the gang tried a circle but it had no effect at all. I stood on a spiked anemone once and I could not walk after. My wife had to pull all the spines out with tweezers. It hurt but didn't suck my blood! Steve By 'spiked', do you mean a sea urchin, which is a rather more fearsome beast. It's what the French call 'oursin'. I'm thinking of those little blood-red blobs of jelly that cling to rocks but aren't spiny. When covered with sea water they have little fronds that wave to and fro. If you trod on a sea urchin, you have my sympathy. I knew someone who knelt on one in Corsica, refused first-aid treatment and so had about two weeks of applying ointment and waiting for the spines to emerge and be pulled out. Nasty! There are lots of anemone species with spikes. Sea urchins are another little hazard for those people, like me, who aren't too careful. It was Corsica where I got spiked as well. The sea urchin spikes are barbed to make things more difficult and some are poison tipped. They taste nice though! Steve -- EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com |
#26
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-15 11:32:36 +0100, Stephen Wolstenholme said:
On Thu, 15 Aug 2013 10:38:03 +0100, Sacha wrote: snip I stood on a spiked anemone once and I could not walk after. My wife had to pull all the spines out with tweezers. It hurt but didn't suck my blood! Steve By 'spiked', do you mean a sea urchin, which is a rather more fearsome beast. It's what the French call 'oursin'. I'm thinking of those little blood-red blobs of jelly that cling to rocks but aren't spiny. When covered with sea water they have little fronds that wave to and fro. If you trod on a sea urchin, you have my sympathy. I knew someone who knelt on one in Corsica, refused first-aid treatment and so had about two weeks of applying ointment and waiting for the spines to emerge and be pulled out. Nasty! There are lots of anemone species with spikes. Sea urchins are another little hazard for those people, like me, who aren't too careful. It was Corsica where I got spiked as well. The sea urchin spikes are barbed to make things more difficult and some are poison tipped. They taste nice though! Steve I'm going to take your word on the latter! I've never seen the attraction but admit to being squeamish. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon www.helpforheroes.org.uk |
#27
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-15 15:36:27 +0100, Martin said:
On Thu, 15 Aug 2013 10:38:03 +0100, Sacha wrote: snip If you trod on a sea urchin, you have my sympathy. I knew someone who knelt on one in Corsica, refused first-aid treatment and so had about two weeks of applying ointment and waiting for the spines to emerge and be pulled out. Nasty! There was a report of somebody who had stood on a sea urchin having to have a foot or a leg amputated I think I'll stick to the common or GARDEN variety! -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon www.helpforheroes.org.uk |
#28
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 15/08/2013 15:48, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-08-15 15:36:27 +0100, Martin said: On Thu, 15 Aug 2013 10:38:03 +0100, Sacha wrote: snip If you trod on a sea urchin, you have my sympathy. I knew someone who knelt on one in Corsica, refused first-aid treatment and so had about two weeks of applying ointment and waiting for the spines to emerge and be pulled out. Nasty! There was a report of somebody who had stood on a sea urchin having to have a foot or a leg amputated I think I'll stick to the common or GARDEN variety! Now come on Sacha, don't be silly. I know that at times we have very heavy rain and flooding, but not to the extent that we are going to get sea urchins in the garden. Some chestnut husks or teasel heads floating around Yes, but sea urchins, I think not. David @ a wet side of Swansea Bay |
#29
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 14/08/2013 16:33, Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:46:40 +0100, Sacha wrote: Well, let's hope he finds all those. Nightshade would be in the potato family, wouldn't it? The Solanaceae? And the other two are Asteraceae, so those must be the preferred food for that caterpillar, presumably. The one I had preferred deadly night shade leaves. Mum played hell with me for just picking the leaves. That's were the best caterpillars lived! Steve It's a good job they can find a mate easier than we can find them, |
#30
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HUGE Caterpillar! ID ?
On 2013-08-15 17:29:12 +0100, David Hill said:
On 15/08/2013 15:48, Sacha wrote: On 2013-08-15 15:36:27 +0100, Martin said: On Thu, 15 Aug 2013 10:38:03 +0100, Sacha wrote: snip If you trod on a sea urchin, you have my sympathy. I knew someone who knelt on one in Corsica, refused first-aid treatment and so had about two weeks of applying ointment and waiting for the spines to emerge and be pulled out. Nasty! There was a report of somebody who had stood on a sea urchin having to have a foot or a leg amputated I think I'll stick to the common or GARDEN variety! Now come on Sacha, don't be silly. I know that at times we have very heavy rain and flooding, but not to the extent that we are going to get sea urchins in the garden. Some chestnut husks or teasel heads floating around Yes, but sea urchins, I think not. David @ a wet side of Swansea Bay It's only a matter of time... -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com South Devon www.helpforheroes.org.uk |
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