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...
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