Country diary: The caterpillar that sways to the rhythm of the trees

Brancepeth, County Durham: The poplar hawk-moth caterpillar loves hanging around aspens almost as much as I doI can hear the sound of the aspen, like fast-flowing water rippling over a gravelly stream bed, long before it heaves into view around the bend in the footpath. Populus tremula is a restless tree with a distinctive voice, never silent, even in the lightest airs. In today's blustery conditions, it shivers and whispers in the lulls, then rises in a crescendo to a rushing torrent with every gust.Long, slender leaf stalks are flattened vertically, so the foliage can only swing freely from side to side, colliding, chafing, rustling. The leaves "make a great noise by being beaten one to another", wrote John Gerard in his 1597 Herbal, "yea though the weather be calme, and scarce any winde." Continue reading...