Monday, February 3, 2020

Just when I thought PE larvae couldn't get any better...

New and more wonderful colour forms of hibernating larvae, from the Sussex woods, by courtesy of Ben Greenaway.


A half-black form, which you find on black-stemmed narrow-leaved sallows (I've seen it in Fermyn Woods).



A strange olive-green colour form, which I'd not seen before (out of >200 in the wild).



And a dull brown-grey form.

Most are in or by forks, or on old twigs scars. Buds aren't popular this year (I've no idea why).

Here's the Doings -




That's the good news. The bad news is that predation by tits during this absurdly mild 'winter' is ominously high, and February is the worst month for it.