A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of a tiny red admiral egg on some stinging nettle http://www.pbase.com/laroseforest/image/143244334). There were perhaps 100+ eggs on the large stand of nettle, the result of the huge influx of red admiral butterflies into this region (probably millions came through). The females sought out stinging nettles, their larval host plant. Ten days ago, the caterpillars were so tiny as to be almost invisible, today many are large as here. This one is in a larval shelter, leaves woven together to provide shelter, but the caterpillar is now so big that the shelter didn't shelter it very well! There was a diversity of sizes on the nettles, and the nettle was being chewed up at a fast rate. Last time I checked, some of the caterpillars had been caught by predatory stinkbugs, and of course, there'd be other predators as well.