Friday 10 June 2011

Running Ducks with Caterpillars

So, here are more duck photos, by popular request. They are getting bigger and gradually gaining in confidence and independence. They are still very happy to return to the house to sleep but the pond is their preferred destination during the day.  They even snooze on the water while bobbing about. I'd like to sleep on water like this. They stay very close to one another and are amusing company. If I go to visit them at the pond during the day they peep at me as soon as they recognise my voice; peeps that are quite high and buoyant.

Here they are thinking. They are on the way to the pond. The route involves running under a ladder. A ladder with a man on it, so it's a bit confusing for them.  








I'm fascinated by the caterpillars. These psychedelic examples are very Alice in Wonderland.   I just want to know  how they become the most beautiful butterflies. How does a creature change so dramatically? There are marks, stripes and dots but even this doesn't seem to really translate into Swallowtails. Why do they prefer Dill and Parsley and how do they get there to like it?

3 comments:

  1. I have fallen totally and utterly...

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  2. Haven't they grown - all full plumage and smart. The caterpillars are amazing, I found a dying butterfly and she was covered in eggs, which I kept and they hatched into tiny wriggly things, which I fed and they ate and ate until huge, then they burst - red like blood all over their tank, it looked like a massacre - they were just getting rid of all their moisture before spinning themselves in thick webs and going to the next chrysalis stage!

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  3. Wow Jennifer, I'm amazed by the caterpillar rescue story. I want to go back and see if my garden ones are bursting yet, with bloodish stuff. It's dark though now.
    You should talk to Greenorchid above, she pulls mites off bees!

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