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.

Dangle Leaf Season Ends

Sadly, and annoyingly, Storm Bert (what a horrid name!) hastened the end of the 2024 Dangle Leaf season. 

I found this larva by Dangle Leaf on Thurs Nov 29th - a lone spinning leaf, which had fallen off by the following afternoon -  

In Savernake, the storm blew the foliage off nearly all of the 'late leaf fall' sallows, and removed any dangles those sallows might have held.  

All larvae are now firmly in hibernation.  

The good news is that woodland titmice populations seem very low indeed, with no rampaging flocks. We'll find out for sure when the Great Tits start setting up territory in the New Year...  Titmice are serial predators of hibernating Emperor larvae...