Page 71 - NT 2022 Almanac

We’re Going on a Caterpillar Hunt!
Caterpillars are among the most fascinating of small creatures. They eat so much and grow so fast! And then, before you know it, they have turned into beautiful butterflies.
You will need:
Jar or small pot
Cling film with holes in Magnifying glass or minibeast pot
How to find caterpillars:
1 Look for holes in leaves and missing parts of plants. Caterpillars spend
every moment of every day munching their way through leaf after leaf. Sometimes the holes are as big as your fingernail, sometimes they are tiny pinpricks – it depends on the size of the caterpillar.
2 Can you find any little black blobs on the leaves? These might be caterpillar poo. The proper name for them is ‘frass’. If you see any, you’ll know a caterpillar is nearby.
3 What about any tiny glassy green balls? These are butterfly or moth eggs, which means small caterpillars will soon be hatching.
4 Sometimes you might see strands of silk on a plant. It’s not only spiders who spin silk, so do some caterpillars. They use them to make trails to walk around on or to make cocoons.
When you find caterpillars, you can gently tip them into your pot to observe them. Don’t forget to put some of the leaves you found them on into the pot so that your hungry caterpillars don’t get even hungrier! Remember to return the caterpillars to where you found them, so that they can turn into beautiful butterflies or moths.
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