At Knepp, Emperors started sallow searching today - cruising the sallow thickets in search of females and, worse, female pupae. They start this when females are due to emerge...
On the oak territories, they got becalmed and heat suppressed from 12.45, till a light southerly helpfully sprang up at 2.45, then they went silly (they're having a fantastic time chasing off groups of teenage Jackdaws).
Three or four were seen feeding on the tracks, but the tracks are very dry and the dung is drying up fast (incidentally, we have never seen PE on pig dung here).
There hasn't been a mass emergence here yet, just a steady stream. Big Bang will probably happen over the weekend.
This season at Knepp, I have already shown 30 people their first ever Emperors - and charged them never to forget...
'What we have loved, others will love; and we may teach them how...'
Wordsworth, Prelude XIII
Elsewhere, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire have now all kicked off, and the first Emperor of the year has been seen in Bentley Wood, Wilts. There are an impressive number of sightings in unusual places, including two 'new' sites along the Cotswold escarpment in Glos - already.
This weekend should be MEGA... To the woods!
No comments:
Post a Comment