Arriving home on Sunday evening after the weekend teaching with Tony Harris in Perth, I find butterflies festooning the kitchen window. I ask my husband Linton how long they have been there but he has been too busy digging up the driveway to notice them at all. Rats! I’ve missed an important event I was hoping to watch.
Destruction of Kale Crop.
On July 29th I notice a few kale plants have been almost decimated by butterfly larvae. Quite fascinated by the 6 fat green caterpillars working their way through the leaves, I pick them off and take them into custody. The plastic mesh lid I construct to cover the honey jar doesn’t work well and by morning half the captives have wriggled free and disappeared. So, I cover the jar with a pop sock.
Shopping for Cabbage.
After a day, all the remaining kale leaves in the jar have been eaten so I run off into town and buy a delicious looking sweetheart cabbage (Hispi cabbage) and tear off a leaf for them. They are having none of it, and next day on the 31st they pupate. I wake to find that they have attached their chrysalises to the side of the jar by a light mesh of silken threads.
Changing Colour.
After a couple of days the green colour fades to beige and I think perhaps they have died so I touch them but they twitch so all seems well.
What to Do About Leaving Them.
I figure that they may emerge as butterflies soon and wonder what to do if this happens on the weekend. So, I take the cover off the jar and place a large plastic measuring jug over it so that they can stretch and dry their wings.
12 Days Pupation
I figure that pupation lasted 12 days and that they must have emerged on Sunday afternoon. As it is cold and getting dark I leave them where they are till Monday morning and I enjoy watching them fly off, even if they are all female. They can’t do much more damage to my kale and it is rather nice to know that the 3 escapees made it.
We kept Atlas moths in an old empty fish tank in my nursery school in the days of yore when I worked very hard for City of Edinburgh Council. We fed the caterpillars on hawthorn leaves. We got them as eggs from the Butterfly Farm manager whom I knew through yoga. They are not native to UK. These moon moths were so large when they emerged from their pupae, that they were the size of small birds as they flew about. No-one could fail to see them. It was so exciting to watch their life cycle.
The children in the school took turns to take them home at the weekends in their fish tank. So they were observed throughout the three weeks it took, to become fully fledged bright green Atlas moths. I felt a bit upset when for the first time I realised, that they only breed and lay their eggs when they are finally flying free as moths. That bit of their life-cycle seemed very short, if not very sweet! Something to think about for everyone………..adults and children alike!
Wow, what an amazing project for nursery children. Thanks for sharing this, Catriona.
Fantastic post, Ann! Another adventure in your busy life! It is a shame you missed the fascinating part, but remember – it’s always another time 😉
That’s true, Karolina. Thanks for your comments.I will search for eggs next and watch from the beginning.