I have had several large colonies of peacock butterfly caterpillars on my allotment this summer, but at least two of the colonies (one only a handful the other about 30+) have been attacked by something leaving behind a mass of broken corpses that look as though they have been sucked dry in parts. In both instances there have been several ladybird larvae on the same patch of nettles - could they be causing this? Here is a photo of the damage:
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This forum has now been more or less replaced by the Club's Facebook page at
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more