Thank God We've Got Through January!

It's good to get rid of the year's worst month first (with apols to those who were born in January). For the record, weather-wise, Jan 2025 rather kept within its traditional parameters, with light frosts on most nights. It was, of course, horribly wet and ended with a vicious named storm (Storm Eowyn). 

Crucially, low night temperatures have slowed things down, which needed doing... and Big Garden Birdwatch suggests low numbers of Great Tits (PE enemy No 1).

Here are Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, photoed yesterday -

February, though welcome, is the main danger month for tit predation on hibernating larvae. Watch this space...

 

3rd Degree Burns Poetry

Inspired by Burns Day, our Scots Poet-in-Residence Fiona Barclay, has risen to the following:-

The Emperor's Lament

Och, fair Emperor, sae grand, sae braw,

W' wings o' velvet rich and raw,

Ye reign o'er England's leafy law

But ne'er in Scotland's cauld, dreich snaw.

Frae oakwoods deep, ye tak' yer flight

A shimmerin' jewel in summer's light.

But here, nae sun tae warm yer wings,

Just wind that howls an' rain that stings.

Oor heathered hills, oor rugged glens,

Might charm the souls o' mortal men,

But tae a butterfly sae fine, sae rare,

They're nae but bleak an' cauld despair.  

Ah, tae see yer purple glory shine

Aboot the Rowan or Scots Pine!

Yet Scotland's skies are dour and grey,

Chasin' monarchs like yersel' away.

Sae here we bide, wi' midges rife,

And mourn the Emperor's absent life. 

For though oor land is wild an' free,

It's no a realm for likes o' thee!

I'll spare you the other 34 verses...

The good news is that the first Marsh Fritillary larval web appeared in the Saturated Wastes of Gloucestershire yesterday, bang on time -

Sense & Sensibility

Every now and then the Purple Emperor does something sensible. This larva is incredibly well hidden in a bark scar (Lambourn Downs, Oxon, 16/1/25) - 

 Sallow trees are far more sensible. This collapsed veteran (probably only about 50-60 years old, Lambourn Downs, Oxon) is regrowing splendidly, and is in use by His & Her Gloriousities -

It keys out as a x Reichardtii hybrid. I am finding true Goat Willow Salix caprea an increasing rare tree.

Onward! The Robins are trilling, and a Mistle Thrush was casting stentorian notes to a treetop breeze yesterday...

Big Freeze Up!

Emperor 'pillars look amazing in freezing weather. They get covered in ice crystals, which protects them from predatory birds.

This morning, I drove to my local site, 10 mins away, after a -5C frost in our garden. The woods were hoar frosted. Here's No 5:- 

 and this is what he looked like yesterday lunchtime:-

(fixed point photography isn't my strongpoint...)

And here's No 5:-

and No 3, who's on a twig scar:-

and a habitat shot (it's not an easy place to photograph, a deep wooded valley near Daneway Banks on the butterflyers map):-

 

Freeze-up in Savernake!

Savernake Forest is the Best Place On Earth in a winter freeze-up. Yesterday was amazing there, in sub-zero temperatures + hoar frost, under leaden skies.

Hair Ice Fungus (Google it...) was abundant -

Most of the dozen Emperor larvae we checked were heavily frosted, notably this fellow -

I've been after a photo like that for years... It's entitled 'Eat your heart out, Neil Hulme'....

And here are a few others -

                            Spot the 'pillar!  He's in a scar.  

But never mind the photos, what's important is that No Losses have been recorded there (amongst larvae definitely in hibernation) so far this winter. This is the first time I've got to early Jan in Sav without recording at least one loss, when the sample size was ten or more - and winter monitoring started there in 2009-10. 

This is hugely promising. There are hardly any titmice in the Forest this winter. If this continues, and if we get a fine end of May / first half of June (pupation and pupal period) we could see an all-time great Emperor season, fifty years on from the great Emperor season of 1975. Watch this space... 

 

Welcome to the 2025 Emperoring Season...

We're off! Unfortunately, the new year blew in on a nocturnal gale, which was replaced by a day of cold rain, which cleared very slowly from the north-west. For once, Gloucestershire was the best of the Purple counties to be in, with the rain easing after lunch. I was deterred from visiting Savernake, where I usually go on new year's day, as the rain lingered all day there.

I checked my local larvae (on the UK butterflyers map, the wooded valley near Daneway Banks). Here's No 3, on a twig scar - 

 and No 2 aligned up against a bud -

2025 starts with the woodland vegetation ridiculously well advanced: Hazel catkins and Primroses are well out, and I even found Spurge Laurel coming into bloom today. 

Another early butterfly season may be about to unfurl... Whatever, 2025 is a critical year for our butterflies, after the annus horribilis that was 2024...