Orkney Image Library

Gory gabloid tales

A bit of unseasonal Nature Study. Pics date from about 1988. For reasons now forgotten, I kept 5 Cabbage White butterfly larvae, from my Stromness garden, in a jar (with a red lid - peanut butter?). Three pupated, the other 2 had been parasitised by braconid wasps, whose grubs emerged from the dying carcases of their hosts and promptly did what their hosts had been denied. The tiny wasps emerged from their cocoons sooner than I expected; I was away from home and they all died before they could be released. An unfortunate outcome because they do a great job in keeping down a garden 'pest' and maintaining the balance of nature. Just think of the effect they would have if this 40% parasitisation rate were replicated across the whole population of Cabbage Whites - which it may be for all I know. Incidentally, the 23 wasps depicted were from just one caterpillar, along with a further 34 cocoons that failed to 'hatch'. That poor caterpillar had hosted 57 of the the little blighters, all busily eating its insides but sparing the vital organs until they had no further use for their host.
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