Monday, November 9, 2015

Conking out...

Over the weekend (7th & 8th Nov) I watched a larva entering hibernation, at Knepp Wildlands in West Sussex. 

He (named 'Raymond') had been photographed fully coloured up on an about-to-fall leaf on Thurs 6th, by Penny Webb, Knepp's ecologist -


Then, mid-morning on the 7th I found him slowly crawling about some 30cm away, on a different twig system, in driving rain.  He then conked out here, in pre-hibernation mode -


Then, mid-morning on the 8th he was found back near his old feeding spray, which had fallen off.  After observing the Act of Remembrance, it being Remembrance Day, he spent 30 minutes spinning a loose silk pad on the stem next to a prominent bud (the 4th bud from the spray tip), then he conked out on the pad, hopefully for five long months, to dream of spring...  Here's him spinning - 


And here's him conked - 


And here's a wider view of his location, a typical hibernation spot -


Now, if only I could conk out for the next five months...

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