The Vapourer

[BarleySugar]

I found this caterpillar muching away on my autumn fruiting rasperry. Not knowing if he was rare or not I googled for caterpillar, red spots, yellow tufts, and came up with him straight away! Apparently not rare, but having looked at his other food plants, I snipped off his leaf and relocated him to some wild hawthorns on the waste ground near us. His latin name is Orgyia antiqua.

vapourer_moth2

[Stacey Steve]

Interesting looking beastie

[armadillo]

Wow, wot a dude!

[lottie dolly]

what a coincidence barlysugar,we both seen one and posted same time,i have never seen one before,when you actually view it,it looks like a furry caterpillar with two hawns like a slug and yellow blobs on the back,much better in the blow up photo.

[marialittlebzz]

hey ! I have some on my bay tree ! nice looking dude!!

[BarleySugar]

must be the right time of year for them. I only had one, but i did find an empty crysalis nearby, so perhaps that's where mum came from.