COCKCHAFER GRUB, (NOT THE COMMON SWIFT MOTH CATERPILLAR!)

Anna was working in the garden today (I was getting some sleep as I am working my first night shift tonight), and unearthed a horrible-looking wee beastie.I took a look at it and thought it was the larval stage of some "beetle or other", but upon looking in my insect field-guide, it turns out that this may be the caterpillar of the Common Swift Moth.
This is by far the most common caterpillar dug up by gardeners, as it spends most of its entire 2 year life cycle underground, feeding off grass roots and the like.
If you think of a bright yellow and red furry Sycamore Moth Caterpillar (for example) being one of the most attractive caterpillars, the Common Swift Moth Caterpillar has to be one of the least!
Like a giant maggot of sorts, 35mm long, creamy in colour, shiny, with an orange brown head and legs, and a few black hairs that eventually form orange warts down its body, it does not warrant the adjective beautiful. More like grotesque I think!


NB. On more research, (yes, its taken me this long!) it turns out that I was right with my original thought. Our 'caterpillar' wasn't a caterpillar after all, but as I thought, a 'grub'.
I was just flicking through my insect fieldguide again this morning, and in the introduction, there was a photo of the CockChafer Grub.
This was MOST CERTAINLY what Anna dug up from the lawn. We were never really 100% positive it was the Swift Moth Caterpillar, as ours had a grey bum (see photo above) and it didn't seem to have legs all down its body (see photo above again).
It was indeed a Cockchafer Grub. I'm sure the gardeners amongst you will be thinking how on earth could I mis-identify that! Well, I won't anymore!

Cockchafers are HUGE, noisy flying beetles that usually fly at night in May or June, and if you don't know what they are, their noise can be quite frightening. I remember a time when I was growing up, and I was practising my golf swing on the rec behind our house, at dusk, in June.
All the birdsong had died away but suddenly there was this very quiet droning sound. Over a period of 20 seconds or so, the droning sound grew in volume - I knew whatever it was, was approaching fast. I was actually a little worried - I couldn't see anything!
And then it hit me, quite literally, smack into my forehead! It left a mark! I bent down and picked the offender up, and that's when I met my first adult Cockchafer.

Anyway, I digress, our CockChafer grub may spend 3 years in this form, underground. It is also sometimes known as the "Rookworm" because of Rooks' particular fondness for these fat grubs...

So there you go. Apologies for the original mis-identification.