Wednesday 1 June 2011

♥ From Caterpillar to Butterfly ♥

It's half term for Rainbow and Sunshine Classes. 
We were all hoping that the 5 lovely caterpillars we have been watching grow 
and make cocoons would emerge before the holidays. 
 Unfortunately, this didn't happen in time!
I brought them home to look after and to wait for them to hatch.

(You can click on each picture to ENLARGE it!)
On Monday morning when I checked on them, I found one butterfly in the net
and a few hours later another had arrived!
The dark cocoons still have butterflies living inside them
and the light cocoons are empty.
A very blurry picture of a butterfly just out of the cocoon!
By Tuesday all 5 butterflies had hatched from their cocoons ...
 

...and were doing well eating a sugar and water solution placed on leaves 
in the bottom of the net.

On Wednesday the sun came out and  it was time to free these lovely creatures into my garden.

The first one walked to the top of the net and flew out!
One rests on a rose.
A close up.
Can you spot the head, antennae and legs?
This one basks in the sunshine on some leaves.
Can you see the wing veins and abdomen?
These butterflies are called Painted Ladies.
The wing span measured 6 centimetres wide
 and the length measured just less than 2 1/2 centimetres long.
Rainbow and Sunshine may have missed the big event, but certainly enjoyed the beginning of the journey and will see a slide show when they return to school next week. 


Other links on this blog:
Make a Butterfly Feeder
Summer Term - scroll down and take a peek!

1 comment:

Angela said...

I'm so envious of those close-ups of painted ladies, love the post!