Purple Emperor larvae have begun feeding unprecedentedly early. Some in West Sussex were probably feeding in mid-March, and certainly during the three days of balmy weather around the Spring Equinox.
Some larvae were also feeding before the end of March in Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, and probably in Nottinghamshire too.
These first meals were through 'bud biting' - eating the tip of a loosening leaf bud, usually the terminal bud. This is a new phenomenon, something PE larvae have only started doing these last five years or so - seemingly in response to sallows leafing earlier at the back end of mild winters.
Here's 'Jadis Queen of Charn', photoed near Lambourn, Oxon, on April 1st. The bud tip has clearly been bitten -
and here's a well-bitten leaf bud, photoed in Savernake Forest, Wilts, on March 25th -
This suggests that 2024 could see an unusually early PE season, but only if it stops raining (larvae can get stuck for ages skin changing and, especially, pupating in wet weather)...
The other big news is that Winter Bird Predation Rates were Unusually Low, despite high populations of Great Tit and Blue Tit, the assumed main avian predators. We don't have the final figures yet, but it looks as though losses were only in the region of 50% - and some of those were to other causes, this larva here had probably been sucked by a predatory invertebrate -
Fingers crossed, but 2024 could see a good or even very good PE season, weather permitting. Watch this space...
Finally, here's a classic PE breeding ground: an East to West ride in the northern part of Sherwood Forest, Notts, photoed on March 19th. Tall but thinned pines to the south and west provide shade from intense sun and shelter from the wind (for egg-laying females), and most of the sallows are young, just starting to flower fully -
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