Special Offers
Pure Silk hanks These are English reeled 20/22 Denier raw silk hanks produced at the Lullingstone Silk Farm and Worldwide Butterflies.
These fine silk hanks were reeled on the same hand reeling machine, the only one in
The size and weight not standard but the illustration shows a hank picked at random. This is a unique product!
Special temporary promotion price.
NETTING Fine Black Nylon 5 metres 170cm wide
Was £18.95 (£3.79/m) SPECIAL SALE PRICE now £13.95 (£2.79/m)
Ideal for covering box tops, cages, netting replacement and making sleeves. This soft netting is ideal for making field nets.
This netting is durable, resists tearing and deterioration in UV light. It is fine enough to keep out minute flies and parasites.
NETTING Fine Black Nylon 10 metres 170cm wide
If you are thinking of making a netting structure, cage covering and replacement or making sleeves for rearing larvae, this is the ideal netting.
Soft and easy to use. Durable, resists tearing and deterioration in UV light. It is fine enough to keep out minute flies and parasites.
NETTING Fine Black Nylon 20 metres (2 x 10m) 170cm wide.
Was £53.90 (£1.90/m) SPECIAL SALE PRICE now £39.95
Ideal for large structures, flight areas etc.
Use for cage covering or making sleeves for rearing larvae.
This netting is durable, resists tearing and deterioration in UV light. It is fine enough to keep out minute flies and parasites.
Ordering in 20 metre lots brings the price down very low! A lot less than £1.90 per metre, 170cm wide. Probably an unbeatable price.
Marsh Fritillary Eurydryas aurinia
The butterflies fly from May into June. Eggs are laid in large clusters on the underside of Devil’s Bit Scabious.The larvae Feed on Honeysuckle (wild is best), Teasel Snowberry or the natural foodplant Devil’s Bit Scabious. The larvae live in a tightly formed web, growing only a little before they hibernate in autumn.
Small Tortoiseshell
Young larvae should be kept on growing Stinging Nettle, covered with a netting sleeve, or reared in plastic rearing containers, cleaned out and fed daily as shown in the All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES. When larger, the larvae can be caged with cut nettle in a jar or water, on on potted growing foodplant. In a matter of weeks the pupae are formed hanging from the cage top, and the butterflies emerge in a little over a fortnight.
The Small Tortoiseshell has suddenly become scarce where once it was common. By releasing either butterflies or larvae, it might help to bring back this once common butterfly.
The butterflies can be kept in a cage for a few days, with plenty of flowers for nectar, and then released to help the wild populations.
Keeping two species of larvae together on the same foodplant? It is sometimes possible, but their way of life may differ and we recommend keeping them separately.
Marsh Fritillary Eurodryas aurinia
SPECIAL PRICE FOR 20 Larvae!
Larvae feed low amongst the leaves of Devil’s Bit Scabioius, but will also eat Honeysuckle. Honeysuckle starts leafing very early in the year, especially where sheltered in woodland. By February it is not diffficult to find enough foodplant to keep caterpillars well fed. In captivity the larvae are recorded as accepting Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata, Teasel Dipsacus and Snowberry Symphoricarpos.
Pre-hibernation larvae might be induced to develop and produce another generation with long day-length and sufficient warmth.
After waking in the spring the larvae grow fast, pupating in April and emerging as butterflies in May.
Catocala dilecta Croatia
From southern Europe, this species is new to WWB and few breeders have experienced raising Catocala dilecta. One of the Crimson Underwings, very seldom offered.
The larvae are gnarled to match their Oak foodplants. They are reported to take evergreen Oaks which are common in their habitats.
Garden Tiger Moth Arctia caja 50 larvae
The price for 50 Woolly Bears has been substantially reduced to encourage releasing in the wild.
Children love them!
Garden Tiger larvae Woolly Bears grow fast on Dock, Dandelion, Dead Nettle, Nettle and many other hedgerow plants, also Pussy Willow Salix caprea and Osier Willow Salix viminalis. You can also feed them conveniently on Cabbage.
Now a most difficult species to obtain.
These are spring and summer larvae. In the wild, late summer larvae would hibernate, but if you keep them warm and light, many will produce another generation this year.
If you wish to hibernate Wooly Bears, sleeve them in autumn on Willow or Sallow (Pussy Willow). The falling leaves curl to form a ventilated ball in which the larvae hibernate. If all goes well in winter the larvae emerge in spring and feed from the new spring leaves.
From October to spring the larvae are in hibernation. Orders are booked for dispatch when the larvae awake and feed.
Puss Moth Cerura vinula
An ideal beginner's species and an old favourite for the connoisseur. Larvae change frequently and become one of the strangest creatures. Curious forked tail with long red flagellae when disturbed. Foodplants are Poplars and Willows. The caterpillar spins a concrete-hard cocoon of chewed bark, mixed into its own silk, producing a cocoon that is so camouflaged that it is very hard to see - see the picture - very hard to see!
One of the most fantastic of all caterpillars! Children are amazed - old favourites for adults.
Eggs being laid now.
Breeding has been very successful this season and we have special offers for eggs ordered immediately:
Puss Moth Cerura vinula
An ideal beginner's species and an old favourite for the connoisseur. Larvae change frequently and become one of the strangest creatures. Curious forked tail with long red flagellae when disturbed. Foodplants are Poplars and Willows.
The caterpillar spins a concrete-hard cocoon of chewed bark, mixed into its own silk, producing a cocoon that is so camouflaged that it is very hard to see - see the picture - VERY hard to see!
Kentish Glory Endromis versicolora
Store pupae refrigerated until February/March when the adults emerge and breed. Provide Birch twigs for females to lay their clusters of yellow eggs. In normal cold conditions, the eggs don't hatch before the foodplant buds open.
This species is now found only in Scotland, and parts of Central Europe. These are European stock. Emerging as early as February. The first eggs and larvae are ready in March. Clusters of bright yellow eggs are laid on bare Birch twigs. Just go out and cut some twigs and arrange them in the cage. The eggs gradually change to a deep purple colour which matches the colour of the twigs. In captivity, the eggs can hatch before the Birch buds are open, so keep some twigs warm inside, standing in water, to get them to sprout.
If you can sleeve the larvae on a growing plant, potted or in the ground, rearing is very easy. The larvae, black at first, cluster on the twigs. Later they are green and spread out a little, clinging on to the twigs, they look just like Birch catkins. Absolute masters of camouflage. In May the larvae pupate in leaf litter and settle down until the new season starts again in February. This is a very easy species: just make sure you have enough growing foodplant (it can be in pots). The male and female moths share the same patterning, but the female is much larger and the male has particularly rich chestnut markings. Pairing is easy. Just leave the moths together and Nature takes care of things.
Note Kentish Glory larvae can also be fed on Hazel, Alder, Hornbeam, and Lime. It is probable that other alternative tree species may be used as foodplant.
Our thanks to Jens Stolt who has kindly allowed us to use his beautiful illustration of the life history of this rare species.
