Post covid walk from Harwell, with hairy caterpillars.
Penny and I walked from the house yesterday and managed 6.5 miles with little ill effect, so no more covid excuses for not going on the standard walks.
Lark in the rape (must go back with a bigger lens and try to catch him singing)
Hagbourne Hill
The clumps from Hagbourne Hill
This is the Icknield Way near Harwell (A34 behind).
This stretch of hedge is infested with spider web like cocoons; silk like tents which are full of Brown-Tail Moth caterpillars. Hairs and the two red dots mark them out.
Brown-tail moth caterpillar
Don’t touch – the rash stings and can last a week.
They stay as larvae/caterpillars for 9 months, eating everything they can find, and, unusually, they are not species specific and have been found eating 26 different plant species (polyphagy). The other three life cycle stages are only a month each, and the moth itself is white but, hopefully, with a brown tail.
