A quickie to say that despite the exceptionally wet March and a mediocre April, Emperor larvae are developing bang on time. They seem to be in exactly the same development stage throughout their range, without regional disparity (yet...).
They are feeding slowly but surely (wet foliage stops them), and are coming up to their early spring skin change. That can take ages, if conditions are wet and cool; or it can take just a couple of days if the weather's warm and dry. Next week's weather is looking promising, so they may be ok.
Best of all, I haven't recorded any spring losses (yet). In some years, notably in 2022, quite a few larvae go missing-presumed-crunched during April. So, fingers' crossed, but things are looking promising...
Most larvae fed for quite a while during April from leaf undersides, which is unusual. Like this -
They've done a lot of leaf tip bud biting, like this -
But they are now on the leaf uppersides, like this -
Most are not yet fully green.
At this range, it looks as though the first adults nationally will emerge on Midsummer Day, but don't quote me on that. I'll give a proper prognostication in late May.
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