Tuesday, April 21, 2015

News from the Alps

Almost all the sallow here in Switzerland (c. 1000m) is in leaf, with just a shady bush or two still in bud. The iris larvae have all woken up and most are feeding.

This is Agni, my most advanced cat. He looks as though he will be ready to shed his 3rd instar skin soon:


At the other end of the spectrum, Sugrīva has yet to begin feeding:


Sarasvatī had to move some distance to find foliage and has yet to green up:


Durgā and Śiva share a sapling right next to the path. This is Durgā, with Minnie, my Jack Russell, just discernible further along the track:


And this is Śiva. I thought I had lost him, because countless winter searches of every accessible twig on his sapling proved fruitless - I only found Durgā. But then yesterday, suddenly, there he was again!


Spring has sprung.

Guy

1 comment:

Matthew Oates said...

Larvae are starting to feed here too, bang on time. The most advanced ones are heading towards skin changing, the slowest are just starting to feed.

Crucially Guy, did you lose any to predation during the winter? I didn't, for the first year in six.

I'll put a proper posting up over the May Day Weekend...