This is an entry to the Amazing Nature Competition run by 
You may have noticed that while I have a keen interest in wildlife, I also do a bit of gardening. The thing is, while I am interested in learning about about the garden, and the various plants we have, I am a bit lazy. Especially when dealing with weeds. But there is a good reason to be lazy, most weeds around here are native wildlflowers growing in places they shouldn't. And because they are native, that means the local wildlife has evolved to make use of them.
Dandelions are a perfect example of a plant hated by 'most' gardeners, and yet they are the first food availble for bees and other insects in the early Spring.
Here is my Front Door, showing the 'carpet' of dandelions. Yes I know it looks untidy, but life is to short to be digging up weeds constantly. On the left of this image (next to the leafy green bush, is a plant I don't recognise straight away...
I move in for a closer look... Hey! Its Full of holes!
Something has been eating this mystery plant, who can it be?
Now then, this little guy looks suspicious...
...and I've caught him in the act! Its a very hungry little caterpillar
Oh no! There are loads of very hungry little caterpillars!
And they have an accomplice!
No wonder the plant is full of holes, the poor thing had no chance against these marauding caterpillars with their insatiable appetites
I quickly take some photos as evidence of their destructive behaviour
A quick spot of reaseach, and I have a name for them. The black and yellow caterpillars are Large White Butterflies (Pieris brassicae) and the green caterpillar is a Small White Butterfly (Pieris rapae)
I should have known... these miscreants are well known by gardeners as pests of vegetables such as cabbages and other leafy green veg. Fortunately for these caterpillars, I am a lazy gardener, so if they have found some food they like, then they are welcome to it.
image from the Caterpillar book showing the IDs of the caterpillars
Small White Butterfly (Pieris rapae)
Large White Butterflies (Pieris brassicae)
I hope you enjoyed my little story, and if I had any actual creative writing talent I could have turned this in to a proper Whodunit Murder Mystery...!
Oh and technically the one of the mysteries is unsolved, I don't actually know the name of the plant yet. The closest I can find is Wild Cabbage which fits as a potential foodplant for the caterpillars, but I'm not 100% sure on that ID
All names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces