Young Life.

 Having a fascination with insects doesn't stop with just the adult butterfly or moth for me as the immature stages are just as fascinating, particularly as there are fewer people that are interested in these earlier stages.

Nigel too is into these earlier stages and he had found a wonderful Birch Mocha larva feeding on a Birch sapling on one of his walks.  A few days later I joined him for a walk and searching the area where he had found his we both managed to detect a couple more.  The camouflage on these larvae were simply amazing as they tried to avoid detection from the many Shield Bugs on the young trees.

Birch Mocha Larva on Birch.

A few days later in the same woodland I was looking for the beautiful Wasp Spider when I spotted a Vapourer larva feeding on Birch.  It has been several years since I last saw the larva of this species, even though I see the adult male moth regularly flying around. The female of this species is flightless so any Vapourer seen flying will always be a male.

Vapourer Larva.

On another walk in a nearby wood I was lucky to spot a stunning Knot Grass larva.  This one was redder than other Knot Grass larvae I have seen in the past.  An absolute gem of a larva, and with little else seen on the walk it made the walk well worth doing.

Knot Grass Larva.

Much closer to home, in fact, in the garden, I had a look for Holly Blue larvae on the Ivy.  I have looked for these several times over the years but never been successful. However, this time it was only a couple of minutes before I spotted two.  One was quite advanced, whilst another was extremely tiny.  The photo shows the feeding damage done by the larva.

Holly Blue Larva.