The current mild spell hasn't just woken hibernating butterflies, like the Brimstone and Red Admiral, but Emperor caterpillars.
Emperor catties are now waking on mass, and are relocating themselves to align alongside swelling sallow buds. A surprising number of them have hibernated in forks and on twig scars this winter, some distance from the buds. We don't know why.
It is, of course, unusual for them to waken this early, and they're going to get stuck in the caterpillar equivalent of the dreaded airport Departures lounge for ages, waiting for the sallow leaf buds to start to open.
This is a hazardous time for them, as they can be picked off by predators, birds especially, when moving. Here's one moving up-stem, yesterday, a journey of at least 2m (he's just above the upper fork) -
Also, many are greening up, early, like this one below -
Watch this space...
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