Pet Rescue!

Great to find and rescue two Emperor larvae on a recently fallen sallow yesterday - a tall broad-leaved sallow with 8m of trunk before any branches, which had crashed down over a busy ride and was destined for the chop (someone had already started).

It took the three of us an hour to search.

This shows, 1) that 3rd instar larvae do not fall off when their tree falls - such is the power of their silk pads; 2) that there may be a reasonable number of larvae high up, out of normal reach.  

I have a very good record of finding larvae on recently-fallen sallows...

All told, we saw 8 larvae yesterday: 2 in hibernation (one on a leaf, which is unusual, one on a bud), 2 almost fully coloured-up prior to hibernation, and the other 4 starting to think about it.  

The Dangle Leaf season will get going properly in about a week's time - we need a long dry and calm spell... Sallow foliage is lasting late this year, in the absence of frost - though sallows badly afflicted by Willow Rust have gone into early senescence (explaining the larvae found in hibernation yesterday). Watch this space...