Cinnabar Pupation

 It's happening already! They're pupating! After a few days of frantic caterpillars, I knew it was time... they were ready to set out to find spots to pupate. I promptly moved them to a special container filled with soil and leaves so they could go through the next extraordinary phase of their little lives in peace. 

Cinnabars pupate just below the ground, or wrap themselves in leaf litter and debris. They act very restless prior to this, like there's a bit of a panic to find the perfect spot; this is when you're likely to see them travelling across paths or climbing up walls. After this short period of panic, they settle down and become almost lifeless (you can see in the second photo below how the shape of the caterpillars body starts to change, and they start to look almost grub-like and usually end up on their backs). 

I was so lucky to witness each stage so closely this year - just look at the shade of orange of the newly pupated caterpillar! Incredible.

These little ones will now sleep until next Spring, and they'll hopefully get to hatch out in my new garden next year!