Photos 1-15 :- Recently I've stumbled across something i haven't seen in decades, these Caterpillars were very common when i was a kid but not so much now . In recent years i have seen many parasitised Cocoons on Gum Trees but only a couple with hatching holes , i haven't seen an actual Adult Moth in over 20 years . So , i have brought the 7 Caterpillars home where they are safe and two have now spun Cocoons already , i will release them when they hatch .
Photos 16-18 :- (17/11/23) .... We've recently moved to a property out back of Diggers Rest and today i noticed 5 Gum Emperor Moth Cocoons on a Gum Tree , I'm happy to say that all had large hatching holes and not small parasitic wasp holes .
Photo 19 :- (2/1/24) ..... Well folks , finally some movement in the Emperor Moth department , two have hatched , this is the larger of the two being released this morning .
Photo 20 :- (14/2/24) ..... another one being released , at night this time .
Photos 21 - 23 :- I was stiky-beaking around some saplings at home today (25/2/24) and i found 15 Emperor Caterpillars on 3 saplings , 9 were on this one which is only about 1.8m tall .