caterpillars on parsnip foliage

[Anne Wood]

Thank you for your reply Charles. I live on the Essex/Suffolk border. I have not seen anything resembling a swallowtail moth, and having googled their caterpillars I don’t think they are the army that are eating my parsnips. The caterpillars on my parsnips are ( at the moment ) 5 to 10 ml long, but I suspect they will become huge if they carry on eating as ferociously as they have been. They are quiet translucent, pale green and with black heads. They eat the green underside of the leaf, which makes a brown patch of damage on the foliage.

I agree with you that leek moth is enough, we don’t want parsnip and carrot caterpillar as well!