Sense & Sensibility

Every now and then the Purple Emperor does something sensible. This larva is incredibly well hidden in a bark scar (Lambourn Downs, Oxon, 16/1/25) - 

 Sallow trees are far more sensible. This collapsed veteran (probably only about 50-60 years old, Lambourn Downs, Oxon) is regrowing splendidly, and is in use by His & Her Gloriousities -

It keys out as a x Reichardtii hybrid. I am finding true Goat Willow Salix caprea an increasing rare tree.

Onward! The Robins are trilling, and a Mistle Thrush was casting stentorian notes to a treetop breeze yesterday...

Big Freeze Up!

Emperor 'pillars look amazing in freezing weather. They get covered in ice crystals, which protects them from predatory birds.

This morning, I drove to my local site, 10 mins away, after a -5C frost in our garden. The woods were hoar frosted. Here's No 5:- 

 and this is what he looked like yesterday lunchtime:-

(fixed point photography isn't my strongpoint...)

And here's No 5:-

and No 3, who's on a twig scar:-

and a habitat shot (it's not an easy place to photograph, a deep wooded valley near Daneway Banks on the butterflyers map):-

 

Freeze-up in Savernake!

Savernake Forest is the Best Place On Earth in a winter freeze-up. Yesterday was amazing there, in sub-zero temperatures + hoar frost, under leaden skies.

Hair Ice Fungus (Google it...) was abundant -

Most of the dozen Emperor larvae we checked were heavily frosted, notably this fellow -

I've been after a photo like that for years... It's entitled 'Eat your heart out, Neil Hulme'....

And here are a few others -

                            Spot the 'pillar!  He's in a scar.  

But never mind the photos, what's important is that No Losses have been recorded there (amongst larvae definitely in hibernation) so far this winter. This is the first time I've got to early Jan in Sav without recording at least one loss, when the sample size was ten or more - and winter monitoring started there in 2009-10. 

This is hugely promising. There are hardly any titmice in the Forest this winter. If this continues, and if we get a fine end of May / first half of June (pupation and pupal period) we could see an all-time great Emperor season, fifty years on from the great Emperor season of 1975. Watch this space... 

 

Welcome to the 2025 Emperoring Season...

We're off! Unfortunately, the new year blew in on a nocturnal gale, which was replaced by a day of cold rain, which cleared very slowly from the north-west. For once, Gloucestershire was the best of the Purple counties to be in, with the rain easing after lunch. I was deterred from visiting Savernake, where I usually go on new year's day, as the rain lingered all day there.

I checked my local larvae (on the UK butterflyers map, the wooded valley near Daneway Banks). Here's No 3, on a twig scar - 

 and No 2 aligned up against a bud -

2025 starts with the woodland vegetation ridiculously well advanced: Hazel catkins and Primroses are well out, and I even found Spurge Laurel coming into bloom today. 

Another early butterfly season may be about to unfurl... Whatever, 2025 is a critical year for our butterflies, after the annus horribilis that was 2024...

Rejoice, and Be of Good Cheer

for that which was lost is found...

Two of the six 'pillars I'm following in the wooded valley four miles from where I live (near Daneway Banks on the UK Butterflying Map) vanished during Storm Darragh. I feared an early winter titmouse strike.

However, one of them reappeared yesterday, in a branch fork 1m from the bud spray he'd been in - 

I spotted him from the path. The interesting thing is that he wasn't there on Mon Dec 9th - and I wouldn't have missed him in such an obvious spot. He must have been on walkabout, disturbed by the three-day storm.

The other one, sadly, is still absent, officially listed as Missing In Action. He might have been rubbed off by clashing branches in the storm. A titmouse strike is unlikely this early in the winter, even more so given the paucity of tits in the Emperor woods this winter...

 

  

Searching Storm-blown Sallows...

Storm Bert raged for almost three whole days over the Purple Empire. It and its predecessor felled a number of older sallows.

Some of those sallows will resprout from their root plates, or even from branches rooting into the ground (as 'walking' trees). Many, though, will get chopped up and cleared away. 

Crucially, larvae do NOT fall off their silk pads when the tree crashes down, even if a fallen tree is bulldozed.   

I searched a number of windblown veteran sallows during the stormy winter of 2013-14, when larval numbers were high. I found larvae at the rate of one per 45 minutes, by searching buds and nearby forks. 

It's hard work, but is our only chance of gaining data from tall sallows - and most eggs seem to be laid high up, under or amongst tall sallow crowns. It's best to work as a small gang.  

Sub-canopy sprays, with medium-sized buds, are best. Old, lichenised growth with big buds tends to be unproductive.

Obviously, larvae can either be brought home for rearing in the garden - 'pet rescue' - or transferred to living sallows nearby (using wire fasteners).  

Tell nosy dog walkers that you're looking for biodiversity... 

Here are my colleagues Gary & Sarah searching fallen sallows last weekend. We didn't find anything, but at least we know no Emperor larvae will perish on them - 

 

Dangle Leaf Season Ends - Bud Scanning Season Starts

 I don't believe that any dangles would have survived Storm Darragh, which rampaged for three full days over the entire Empire, and beyond (except possibly in the deepest and most sheltered E-W valleys and along E-W rides through dense thicket stage conifer plantations, feel free to prove me wrong).

If so, then the last dangle + caterpillar was found by Mark Tutton in Alice Holt Forest on Mon Dec 2nd (having survived Storm Bert).  

Incredibly, it appears than only ten people have found Emperor larvae by the Dangle Leaf method in the UK. Book yourself in for the 2025 Dangle Leaf season, and join the club. It works! 

With Emperors, when one party ends another starts, so welcome to the Bud Scanning season: on a bright day, scan buds and nearby forks (working with the sun, not into it) through binoculars. This lovely 'pillar was found last week by Bud Scanning.