FOODY FRIDAY - 1001 BLIPS CHALLENGE

I was wandering around our son and daughter-in-law’s garden, and loved the macro shots I took of the fuchsia, but then spied this Buff Tip Moth caterpillar (Phalera bucephala) on one of their new grasses. It was very well camouflaged - isn’t nature wonderful? Apparently, the adult buff tip holds its wings against its body which makes it look very much like a twig, obviously to try and put off its predators.

The challenge today is FOODY FRIDAY and whilst you may not like to eat this, I’m sure birds have a sixth sense, so it may not be there tomorrow, and perhaps a bird family will have had 5* dining tonight!

I did see a bigger caterpillar at the top of another clump of grass, but when I moved some of the fronds to get a closer look, it fell down - I did apologise to it - it had probably taken all week to climb up that far!

Many years ago, I can remember going into my Grandmother’s bedroom and smelling something rather strange - when I asked her what it was, she told me it was moth balls in her wardrobe - put there to try and stop the moths from eating her clothes. I remember these moth balls were white and round (almost like a Polo mint) but they smelt awful - I think they must have been Naphthalene, which I understand have been banned in Europe since 2008, not surprisingly since their properties include being toxic, carcinogenic and highly flammable!

Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)