It must be the best week of the year for knocking White-letter Hairstreak caterpillars from elms! Yesterday, I went to Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits, near Ilkley, and placed a blue rubber ground-sheet under a small elm before rattling the tree vigorously.
After a few shakes I had half a dozen Winter Moth larvae, a couple of Mottled Umber and this WLH caterpillar which is the same size, but noticably more yellow, than the individual found at Baildon yesterday.
Someone has planted Alder Buckthorns at Ben Rhydding and when I found this green caterpillar I initially thought it could be a Brimstone. Closer inspection, however, leads me to the conclusion that it is actually a Hebrew Character.
There were hundreds of Small Tortoiseshell larvae feasting on the nettles by the roadside and Orange Tip eggs on the Garlic Mustard flowers in the same hedgerow.
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