Ermine

White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda) caterpillar

The spikey-looking caterpillar pictured above is the very hairy offspring of one of our regular moth visitors – a White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda). I spotted it humping its way rapidly through the longer grass at the edge of one of the garden paths last week. In this case, the "racing stripe" proved apt! It must have been moving from one food plant to another, and given its preference for docks and nettles, it had certainly picked the right corner of the garden to investigate. Adults, which fly from May to July, are long gone. Earlier in the summer though, they're common and widespread in most habitat types (except wetlands) across much of the British Isles, as well as throughout temperate Europe and Asia. They're pretty distinctive: creamy white all over with black antennae and varying numbers of black spots. Those in Scotland are said to be sometimes buffy or brown rather than creamy. They have the rather endearing habit of playing dead if disturbed during the day, dropping to the ground and lying on their backs with their legs all folded. They're full of alkaloids (which make them at best unpalatable and at worst, potentially toxic to anything trying to eat them) and presumably can emit some chemical scent to warn predators of that. Larvae are full of alkaloids too, and also rely on their bristly hairs to help make them an unappealing meal. They overwinter as pupae in leaf litter, emerging in late spring as adults. Here's hoping this youngster makes it to next year!

Adult, in mid-June