With the weather being pretty poor today I was going through a few posts on the computer. I remembered that Guy had a Marbled White larva crossing the road and that I had mentioned that I should go and check out where I had found some earlier in the season. Anyway, the weather did improve a bit this afternoon so being on a bit of time restraint I headed up the hill to have a quick look. Most of the areas where I found them before were covered with no luck and I assumed that they had either pupated or were, as mentioned in the books, nocturnal in their later instars. I then went along to look at the pupa case of the Wall Brown that had presumably died, the case had gone, only the bit where the larva had attached itself to the grass stem still there, but beneath it was unbelievably a near fully grown Marbled White larva!! If the pupa was still attached it would have been touching the MW larva. The black stripe down the back was very interesting to watch as the stripe widened and narrowed all the time like a pulse going through it.
![DSC_1926 (680x1024).jpg (343.27 KiB) Viewed 600 times Marbled White larva](./files/thumb_10225_4fe6fcc853207dacac042ce8c921e9dc)
- Marbled White larva
![DSC_1928 (1024x680).jpg (385.19 KiB) Viewed 600 times Marbled White larva complete with smiley face!!](./files/thumb_10225_45c0bad0a70ab235642c611ed3a766ea)
- Marbled White larva complete with smiley face!!
Following this I managed another shot of a female Common Blue. This one was still very pretty but not as blue as the one from yesterday.
![DSC_1953 (1024x662).jpg (349.59 KiB) Viewed 600 times female Common Blue](./files/thumb_10225_c66306e9c7b94612b7a4c23e7d474a33)
- female Common Blue
Much more on the blog inc. moth trap and damselflies.