Friday 5 March 2021

Caterpillars and Poppies

                                      

Is that the first poppy of 2021?


                                     

Wild poppies usually don't appear in the fields till late April, early May



No, it's an anemone.  The are very similar but the poppy has rounded leaves and these are pointy.  There are also clumps of purple flowers.  Beautiful.  Nature is appearing slowly in its Spring colours



The first trails of those nasty poisonous caterpillars have also appeared, trekking across the road joined head to tail



26 comments:

  1. Here the poppies appear in March and they really are already here.

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    1. I saw some more today. Definitely the first poppies. They do seem very early this year, here

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  2. They do look like poppies don't they. Very pretty just what we need to cheer us up. Thanks!

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    1. I think the first pic might be a poppy. I saw a few more today. I love fields of red poppies

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  3. Poisonous caterpillars? It's bad enough those pesky cabbage whites laying eggs on my Brassicas. Another use for old net curtains.

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    1. These caterpillars are very dangerous if a cat or dog touches them. I think that fuzzy stuff is poisonous. Cabbage butterflies are around too, eating the snails have left

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  4. They are poisonous???????

    But the flowers are lovely.

    Mmmmm, do you squash the poisonous "buggers"????????

    🌸🌺🌷🌸🌺🌷🌸

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    1. I keep well clear of those caterpillars. They can make animals very sick, not sure about humans.
      Wild flowers are brightening up the fields now

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  5. I love poppies and this make me want to do a collage or something with poppies in. I've never seen a procession of caterpillars before.
    Briony
    x

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    1. Those caterpillars appear every year where there are pine trees. Nasty things.
      Red poppies are gorgeous

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  6. Signs of spring. Glad we don't have the poisonous caterpillars.

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  7. I hope your spring and summer are better than ours was
    Apparently we are in for a wet autumn as well.
    Winter is looking to be very cold here indeed

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    1. So far March has been good to us. We need a little rain and then lots of, warm not hot, sunshine.
      I wonder what mother nature has in store for us

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  8. Thought you were going to tell us that is was a snake! Is it the hairs on the caterpillars that cause the problems?

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    1. I think it's the hairs. I know they're dangerous to animals , as Cro mentions below

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  9. Our new dog, Billy, has yet to encounter the Processionary Caterpillars, so I shall be keeping him on a lead for a while. Our lovely Lab', Monty, lost some of his tongue because of them. What nasty creatures they are.

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    1. Ooh, that's terrible. I know you have to keep dogs away from them. They're all over our mountain roads now

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    2. Tell all dog owners to keep well away from them, so many people have no idea how dangerous they are (to humans too).

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  10. We have never seen or heard of those caterpillars - thanks for the warning. Hopefully they don't live in cities..... yes the colour is coming back to the world. Wild poppies possibly our favorite wild flower.

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    1. They seem to thrive in our pine forests. Hopefully you won't see any under the bitter orange trees on your roads

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  11. These caterpillars are very dangerous, can cause severe allergic reactions and irreversible damage to the eye. Do not touch them. Here they are searched for and destroyed immediately.

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    1. Thanks for the information and warning Yael. It's only in recent years I've noticed them and fortunately someone told me to keep clear of them

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  12. Ewwwww. Nasty, poisonous caterpillars. That sounds awful. -Jenn

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  13. Those caterpillars sound really bad, but your flowers are pretty. Summer is coming :)

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  14. Very pretty flowers, and night mare inducing caterpillars (yucky). Looks like spring is on it's way in your neck of the woods!

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  15. Those caterpillars sound really bad. The flower is a beautiful bright red. We saw fields of red poppies in France years ago they looked wonderful.

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