Part of our garden is left to wild things and wandering around the other day I saw what looked like cobwebs across the plants. This sheet of web was really low to the ground and was about 75mm across and probably extended to 300mm in length. Yesterday the mysterious web hatched into loads of tiny caterpillars Oh dear "processionary caterpillars" I thought, but hang on they nest in trees and they are usually larger than my specimens.
After researching several butterfly and caterpillar identification sites, I believe I have discovered that these caterpillars are in fact Black-veined White (Aporia crataegi). These butterflies are quite common in Europe and are quite partial to Blackthorn and Hawthorn plants of which we have many. I have also added an old photo of a pair of Black-veined White butterflies for reference.
Nev
