The challenge on the sightings board in the Visitor Centre, set by Toby, was to spot the caterpillar of the Drinker moth. This handsome beast, Euthrix potatoria, is said to drink droplets of dew and both the English and Latin names allude to this. It eats coarse grass and reeds and the adult will be on the wing next month.
I was working in the Wildlife Garden last week and was lucky enough to spot this one (and not cut it with the shears).
I was tidying the edge of the garden's wildflower meadow in the rain but left it to straighten out and crawl away to safety, but only after several visitors took photos.
This shot shows how hard it was raining, and also how colourful this caterpillar is. The adult is more subtle in shades of brown.
In contrast the six-spot burnet moth, also from a colourful caterpillar, is a striking black and red. A few pupae have been seen from the Wildflower Walk but not in the huge numbers we had last year - that was an exceptional year.
Peter