Orange Tip Butterfly

I did consider having this as a quiz to see whether anybody could recognise this. There would have been some who could. But its a bit specialised and I think I had better explain.

Most people will be familiar with the Orange Tip Butterfly. In the early summer it lays tiny eggs mainly on its favourite food plant Jack by the Hedge also known as Garlic Mustard.

The eggs hatch and tiny caterpillars crawl out. They feed veraciously and grow rapidly. The next stage is that which you see here, the caterpillars having turned into this sail like pupa.

The pupa will fall of into the leaf litter on the ground and next Spring a new Orange Tip Butterfly will emerge to start the cycle all over again.

It really is a remarkable series of events.

Thanks to brian for spotting this and showing it to me.