Despite the poor, old-fashioned spring, Purple Emperor larvae are moving into their 5th and final instar bang on time. Incredibly, at this stage it looks as though gloomy Gloucestershire's larvae are leading the way, ahead of their cousins in sunny Sussex. The first L5 larva nationally was recorded in Glos before mid-May.
This suggests we are still on for a late June kick off, nationally, but I'll firm up on that at the end of May. The weather is improving, at last...
Also positive, I have not heard of any spring predation losses, though I did lose one whilst skin changing to L4, I think to virus or having an unduly thick 3rd instar skin (it failed to change properly).
Sorry for the absence of piccies but the method for uploading them here has changed and the new one is proving beyond me.
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