Caterpillar identification

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Any experts out there?

There are 2 quite small oak like trees growing in the garden which I think came from some acorns we collected on walks in woods a few years ago.

Had a bit of a panic as one is being stripped of foliage by a large group of caterpillars which seem to have appeared almost overnight.

Wondered if it was the dreaded oak processionary moth caterpillar, but a quick internet search and mimics document suggests not.

These are yellow with black bands or dots. Need some better pictures but I think they may be buff-tip moth caterpillars:

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Remind me of baby Fendahl from 70s Dr Who the way they’re rearing up.

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Have quite a few cabbage white butterflies around currently feeding on daikon radish flowers, I don’t think they’re cabbage white caterpillars as that would be rather boring.

Buff-tip Moth and caterpillar (Phalera bucephala).

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They’re buff-tip moth caterpillars. Beautiful moths. I would leave them alone. Please. Some caterpillars can do damage in large numbers, but I doubt they’ll do anything serious.

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I’ve just looked these up. While they can strip a small tree it is most unlikely to cause permanent damage. There is a piece in today’s Observer about problems that our native bats are having this year; due to the wet weather there are fewer moths around for them to eat. So we need those moths.

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The only problem is that they’ve stripped maybe 40% of leaves of the one small oak - if I can identify another good food source I may try to transfer them.

The acorns weren’t consciously planted but took root, I really need to try to relocate these saplings/young trees as they are not really growing where I’d want them but that in itself might be risky.

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Thanks for the confirmation, they really are quite lovely, and images of the moths curled up looking like small broken twigs are impressive mimicry. Just spent a good hour or so trying to get some better pictures of them.

For anyone who’s not seen the twig mimicry there’s a good pic here:

Buff-tip moth | The Wildlife Trusts.

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Absolutely, I’m a bit of a nature lover at heart which is why so many parts of the garden are a mess - I simply don’t like disturbing things which increase biodiversity be it shelter for hedgehogs, frogs, birds or insects.

Naturally I’m not that enamoured by certain insects and garden pests but it’s their planet as well.

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One of the later pics from yesterday afternoon:

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At the end of the day, even if the oak tree completely lost all of it’s leaves, it wouldn’t die.

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It’s pretty young and only around 3 foot high, the caterpillars are fascinating little machines to watch - around 50% of the foliage has gone now. They are incredibly methodical and strip individual branches from the tip backwards and descend to lower ones but seem to have split into two teams now!

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I have many bonsai and once in every 3-4 years, I strip the tree of all its leaves mid summer to promote a new flush of finer twig formation.

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Well they’ve stripped that one and left - apart from the bottom branch oddly.

I sat in a green plastic chair I’d used to sit and watch them without realising they were all over it - don’t think I squished any fortunately.

A few have gone to the larger oak nearby - starting to eat from the tip of a branch again working inwards, quite fascinating behaviour.

Relocated a few on the grass and from the chair to some nearby bushes but not sure they are on the preferred menu.

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This crawled out of our garden waste bin today; it’s a speedy walker!

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Maybe a vapourer moth caterpillar - see 13 here:

Nice pics here too, the puss moth caterpillar is charming and squirts formic acid if annoyed:

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Nature is so intelligent beyond our understanding. I do believe they left the tree with something to survive on for the future generation. That’s how nature works.

Humans destroy everything for their own individual greedy gain.

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The same thought occurred to me.

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Try telling that to a slug!

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That’s way too romantic, try detoxing from Attenborough :slight_smile:

And we’re nature too!

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They’re huge now:

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