Drinker

Had an all-day meeting with Butterfly Conservation looking at sites around the nature reserve which had supported small colonies of the threatened Duke of Burgundy butterfly until a few years ago, when a number of the Chilterns colonies suddenly died out. The idea is to manage a cluster of connected sites in such a way that it is feasible to undertake a reintroduction project within the next few years. Ironically, I hardly found time during the day for any photographs. However, I did grab this shot early in the day of a Drinker Moth caterpillar. The Drinker is quite commonly found on a number of grass species in open woods and marshy areas. It gets its name from the reported habit of the caterpillars drinking from drops of dew.