Great white

LAST week I was refilling the bird feeders in my back garden when I spotted something bright green wiggling along my stone steps.

- By LYDIA GERMAN For The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside

Upon closer inspection, I was incredibly excited to recognise it as the caterpillar of the large white butterfly (also known as the cabbage white) - success.

I've been trying to attract butterflies to my garden in Bolton since I moved to a new house earlier this year. My garden features many of the plants and shrubs that attract butterflies, but no luck, until now.

Large white caterpillars typically spend two to four weeks in the larval stage, growing and moulting several times.

Caterpillars need lots of nutritious food to help them grow and change into butterflies or moths.

They can grow 10,000-fold in just a few weeks, which is like a baby growing to the size of a sperm whale!