The end of August going into September are good times to go for searching many of the larvae, and with a tip off where we might find some Goldenrod, a less than common wildflower these days, we went in search on Salisbury Plain knowing the listed Pugs for this larval food plant include Bleached Pug, Golden-rod Pug and Wormwood Pug.
The actual date was the 23rd August, one of those special days in summer when the sun is shining and its just hot, the sort of day when people are out with their cameras searching that special Brown Hairstreak shot before they are too late and we found a few people doing just that, although we didn’t need to search.
Sometimes the window of opportunity passes you by and for this Pug I’m afraid it will have to be another time.
I found the next mystery “looper” larva sitting outstretched from a Goldenrod flower.That larva has now also pupated and was sadly the last find of the day although Tim went back the following day and found yet another larval species which again we have not yet identified and this is still in larval form but very close to pupating as it fixes itself between leaves with silk to feed in safety.