Sutton Hoo - Insect Eggs

h

Sae Wylfing (scaled replica of the Sutton Hoo ship)

The Sae Wylfing vessel, designed along the lines of the Sutton Hoo ship, was on display at the site last weekend. Great attention has been paid to the craftsmanship and it was good to see.

However, it was not only the ship that vied for our attention. There may be few butterflies about but it seems a good season for insect eggs. We took these photos on the edge of the burial mound site.

I have not been able to identify the egg cluster on the two photographs immediately below. I am guessing that these are moth eggs. The Sutton Hoo landscape consists of sandy heath and grassland.

In my search I came across this rather interesting post about a parasitoid wasp emerging from the egg cases of a host species that had been laid on Stachys byzantina. 

The eggs below belong to the the Pine Hawk-moth, Sphinx pinastri. I blogged about these some days ago, and in case you missed the link to the caterpillar, which is rather striking, I will post it here. They are much smaller than they appear, but shown at this size, you can see the detail.

As we walked past a small heap of sandy soil, we noticed it move, and realised that there was a mole at work practically under our feet. Of course, the digging stopped as soon as the mole became aware of our presence. On our return, the mound had grown significantly in length. It is the closest I have (knowingly) come to one of these elusive creatures for a long time.

• Back in 2013 I found these mystery 'egg cases'.