Another day, another Cladius sawfly – actually, this time, 6 sawfly larvae, all munching away on the leaves of a Field rose. I was hoping their identification would be as easy as yesterday’s Cladius ulmi, with its distinctive black-spotted face, but no!

This time my expert confirmed it was definitely a Cladius species and that my guess of Cladius pectinicornis was the most likely but C. pilicornis and C. compressicornis also use rose as their larval plant of choice. When I consulted The Sawflies (Symphyta) of Britain and Ireland website I found for C. pilicornis that the only larva shown on the website had a broad dark stripe down its back and the text said the larvae associated with Hawthorn, not rose, so that seemed unlikely. However, when I checked C. compressicornis, it did look to be a likely contender, with features and larval plants very similar to C. pectinicornis.

So, once again I have to concede that I can’t put an exact name to these very cute little sawfly larvae, but I certainly enjoyed watching them. When much in the world around us seems maddening and/or depressing, I find there’s something very calming about watching caterpillars eating and gliding about.