Frozen Up!

Never thought I'd take a photo of a frosted final instar larva, in mid-November, but here it is -

Taken on Sat Nov 14th, after a -3C frost. If I'd got there an hour earlier, I might have found it fully iced over. The frost wont kill it.

It's alive, and doing a poo - note the arched tail! 

When the weather warms up after the current cold snap, as forecast, it will have to make an existential decision... Perhaps, it will try to hibernate on the leaf, and the leaf edges will curl around it, offering some protection from predators. It needs to have silked the petiole join on well, and have constructed a really good silk pad. Watch this space...

Also off the trolley is this, a 'pillar still in full Lincoln green on Nov 14th -

That's by far the latest I've ever seen an Emperor 'pillar still clad in summer green. Most are colouring up prior to hibernation, like this one - 

Yesterday, we did find two larvae in hibernation, by Dangle Leaf, but the six other L3 larvae seen were still on the leaf, colouring up.

They're running late, in sync with the sallows, in what was a very mild autumn, until this mid-November cold snap. 

The Dangle Leaf Season is now officially Open...