Gary Holderness has just sent in these photos telling us that along with fellow volunteers he has been monitoring the Southbourne butterfly transect this winter specifically looking to see if they could find any Clouded Yellow larvae.
On 25/01/2026 for the first time this year Gary found these two Clouded Yellow caterpillars on the transect route – clear evidence that so far this winter Clouded Yellow caterpillars are indeed surviving on the south coast and these are the photos of them.
Clouded Yellow Caterpillar. Photo. Gary Holderness
The young larvae are yellowish-green with black heads – they then turn dark green after their first moult and develop a white-yellow side stripe with orange or red spots.
The butterflies are not native to the UK – they arrive in the summer as migrants from Southern Europe and North Africa and then breed quickly once here.
Could this be yet another sign of climate change – we will just have to wait and see.
What a find! Let’s hope they survive the rest of the winter.