Notes and Views from a Wiltshire Wood

Given the "explosion" of Purple Emperor sightings this year, I figured that this has to be the year to go looking for the immature stages - especially since I've never found them in the wild before. The rationale is that if I can't find them this year, I never will! And so I set off this morning to a Wiltshire wood known for its iris population. After 10 minutes of getting my bearings, I headed off down a forest ride, looking at any sallow that was in full or partial shade, as well as the shaded areas of sallows that were in full sun (which is normally "deep inside" the sallow). I don't know if it's beginner's luck, but the 3rd sallow I searched (Salix caprea) had a 1st instar larva (at least, I think it's 1st instar) sitting on a leaf tip, facing toward the base of the leaf (which showed characteristic feeding damage). After another hour of searching I finally found an egg with the caterpillar fully-formed inside and is probably going to hatch within hours! So - 2 immature stages in 2 hours - not the best of records but not bad for a beginner with this species:)