Miscellaneous Carwoola wildlife

As the weather warms up members of the animal kingdom are becoming apparent.  The first of these covered here is a large (6cm long) black caterpillar found crawling across our drive.  Roger Farrow has identified this as a Ghost Moth (Family Hepialidae) larva.

 An old Protea flower outside my study was attracting a cloud of insects on a warm day.  These all turned out to be hoverflies (family Syrphidae).

 Leaf beetles are beginning to turn up.  Amazingly this one didn't fall off the leaf as soon as I pointed the camera at it.  I suspect it is Paropsisterna sp.
 The weather on 10 October was warm and windy.   This cause a mass of moths to turn up at my study window late in the evening.
Memo to self: remove cobwebs.

A little later in that evening while escorting the small dog for her final comfort stop I heard rustling noises coming from a bed of Crocosmia.  This could have been many things, some of which might be unfortunate to meet, so small dog was reinserted to the lounge.  I returned with torch and camera to find --
I am very pleased small dog didn't meet this for both their sakes.

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