One day, an event showed me that I knew nothing about the world of insects, particularly butterflies.
I noticed that the most interesting things happen when I'm in a hurry.
So, one Sunday morning, our whole family went to church.
It was ten o'clock in the morning.
All around, there are huge snowdrifts, the air temperature is slightly below zero, the asphalt is very slippery.
We walked very slowly, afraid of slipping on the ice.
But this slow walk did not mean that we were in no hurry.
We could be late.
Passing one stone fence, I saw something strange that made me stop.
I saw a live caterpillar crawling along the surface of a snowdrift.
Yes, it was a brown, shaggy creature that was very active and did not pretend that he was cold.
Frost, did not hinder the movement of the caterpillar.
I decided to keep this moment as a souvenir and took some photographs.
I took the first three photos with my phone camera, and the rest of the photos with my camera.
I don't know how often you can see a caterpillar crawling in the snow, I think that these photographs are very rare, I would say, unique.
I do not know what will happen to this caterpillar and whether it will become a butterfly, but she wanted to live.
This caterpillar has a magnificent fur coat, which is not much inferior to a mink coat.
The biological clock appears to have broken.
Last year there was no snow at this time of year and, apparently, the software settings made the caterpillar wake up ahead of time.
Perhaps this caterpillar had a ticket to a ski resort and she decided to use it.
The service here is clearly lame, but the caterpillar was able to see the snow.
This is a large caterpillar. Look at it at a considerable distance from the camera.
I had two guesses what kind of butterflies this caterpillar belongs to.
For this, I have good reasons, which you can find out about below.
I wanted to substantiate my guesses with accurate data from the catalogs of butterflies, but I could not find, exactly, the same caterpillar.
Before you have any reason to criticize my approach to solving this puzzle, take another look at this caterpillar.
So, the first option is the option that I should ignore, although it is justified by the fact that I found this caterpillar next to the wall on which, earlier, I photographed butterfly Vanessa cardui.
Perhaps I took a photo at the moment when the butterfly was laying eggs in the cracks between the stones of the fence wall.
The first assumption collapses in view of the fact that I met butterflies of type Vanessa cardui closer to summer, and, in the first days of March last year, I had the opportunity to photograph butterfly Inachis io.
You see this photo taken on March 3, 2020.
I have to make my choice and settle on the second option - this, caterpillar, future Inachis io!
Zoom in on a photo for a closer view.
More to come!
Enjoy viewing the photos and reading the article!
Have a blessed day!
