I took my exercise walk early this morning, hoping to avoid any Easter crowds along the coastal path and my strategy worked a treat. Well, mostly – I’d just spotted a locally rare bird and was taking some photos when a jogger came along and scared it off. That was the bad news (though I did still get the photos – and see the bird – for the curious, a Crossbill). The good news is that during my second encounter, with some dog walkers, when I snuggled off the path between some bushes, I spotted these little wrigglers.

They’re Lackey moth larvae, quite recently hatched judging by their small size, and now safely cocooned in their self-woven web. They were warming up under the sun’s rays before crawling off for their daily munching of the surrounding leaves of Blackthorn and Hawthorn. At night they return to snuggle together in silken comfort. I’ve seen these larvae several times before but today was the first time I’d noticed their egg cases.