We actually completed this Outdoor Hour Challenge back on 21st September. However, you'll see below why it's taken me so long to post this.
We started this challenge with a brainstorming session about how moths were different to butterflies. Thanks to Barbs’ handy summary on the Handbook of Nature Study page we came up with:
1) Moths come out at night (nocturnal) but butterflies are out in the daytime (diurnal)
2) Moths’ wings lie flat down when they’re resting, but butterflies’ wings stand upright.
3) Moths have interesting, feathery-looking antennae, whereas butterflies have plain, thin antennae.
4) Moths have a fat body (abdomen) but butterflies have a thin body (abdomen).
5) Moths form a cocoon, but butterflies form a chrysalis.
We used our Collins’ ‘Butterflies of Britain and Europe’ field guide to help observe all these differences.
We had a quick hunt for moths in our entry way between the front door and the main house, where they often hang out, and came across a dead one entangled in a spider’s web (oh, dear, I really must do some cleaning out there!). It wasn’t really in a good enough condition to be drawn, but then I remembered that last year we’d succesfully observed the metamorphosis of a White Ermine Moth, so Sophie (7) drew a picture of that for our nature diary.
And then, as luck would have it, Nathaniel (3) discovered a HUGE caterpillar calmly walking along the wall by our house:
We decided this could be the caterpillar of a Pine Hawk moth, noting its abdominal horn. The guide book said it liked to make its cocoon in the soil, so we filled a glass jar with some soil, put in a few bits of grass and twigs for good measure, and popped it in. Sure enough it immediately buried into the soil. A few days later I gave the soil a bit of a shake and there was the pupa. It twitched a bit as we moved the contents of the jar, which was interesting to notice.
And so we wait for the moth to hatch! And we waited….and waited….and waited…and two and a half months later it finally decided to make an appearance! It hatched out in the evening, so we let it dry its wings out overnight. It quickly found the stick that we’d put in the jar for that purpose and hung there.
The next day we released into the garden, taking a few pictures before leaving it on the tree. It was a sunny, warm day, so we hope the moth had time to find a good home for the winter.
As you can see, it was worth the wait!
Abide in Him!
