Thursday, January 15, 2015

Night night Atropos...

The sad news today is that Atropos, our resident Death's Head Hawk-Moth has passed away to the great beehives in the sky.

Tomorrow would have been his 13th week as an adult, a very good innings I think, and he may be the oldest known to science ( unless you know different?).

It has been a great pleasure to watch him over the last months, feeding and flying around, and it may be something that I never see again. Atropos, in case you have been held hostage or on the moon since autumn, was reared from a wild caterpillar found creeping along a track in Northants back in September.

If you would like to see him again, just search the labels on the right or scroll through the posts since 17th Sept last year.

As Atropos has starred on small screen, I think some acknowledgements are appropriate.We would like to thank Victoria for finding him in the first place and to his fan club from all over the UK for following his progress, without whom none of this would have been possible. (sniff).

Thank you and goodnight. (sob)

 

7 comments:

Steve Gale said...

A statue along the lane? A park bench in Atropos's memory? A stand in Atropos's name at St' James's Park?

oldcrow61 said...

So sorry to hear this Stewart. He was a beautiful creature.

oldcrow61 said...

Meant to add that I checked and we do have this moth where I live and I come across their pupae every spring when I'm gardening. I often wondered what it was and now I know. I usually place them back under the earth where I found them.

Unknown said...

Just seen your blog via Steve Gale's. Pretty cool having a resident Death's Head.

Johnnykinson said...

A sad,sad day. I can tell the grandkids that i met and photographed him.

Stewart said...

Steve - I'm liking that idea, not the stand mind, maybe a hide somewhere?
OC - They do have a very widespread distribution but there are several other species with similar pupa too? Maybe keep one in a container until it hatches out next time you find one?
Its well worth it.
Andrew - Oh yes, its one of my most wanteds, I had to snap at the chance when my sister in law found the caterpillar in September.
John - I might get him tattooed on my arm....

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

He's off to the great moth heaven a corpses mouth murdered by some odd fellow who sort of dresses up as a woman