BB's Butterflies - a Review

I've just posted a review of BB's Butterflies on the UK Butterflies website and thought that visitors here might like to know! Click here to read the review.

Colouring Up

A good morning spent in the company of Matthew searching out the many Purple Emperor larvae that have been found in a wood in Wiltshire. Matthew kindly showed me an area of less than 10 square metres that is the home to over 25 larvae - and we found a couple of new residents today too. The larvae are in various states of "colouring up" ranging from almost "Lincoln green" through to a very dark grey/green. Many larvae have moved away from their original position and are quite difficult to find as a result. Matthew found one larva moving around at the end of a twig - a totally unsuitable position for a larva looking to overwinter! Earlier I'd found one larva next to a sallow bud. Some shots below.

2013 season in Berks/Bucks/Oxon [BBO]

It was the best season since we've been keeping detailed records [2003], with 490 sightings from 35 tetrads, the previous best being 390 sightings in 2010. As last year, it was a late starter. Although a single specimen had been seen on July 1st, no more sightings were made until July 8th, when the numbers slowly picked up. The peak was between July 14th and the 23rd, when double figures were seen, daily, in several woods, including 30 on each of two days, July 17th and July 23rd, in one wood. To put this into perspective, the previous best day in this wood was in 2010, when 16 were seen. Remarkably, in one very small wood [0.125 sq km, 12.5 hectares, 30 acres], 19 and 15 were seen on two separate days during the peak period.
The last was seen on August 21st, the latest observation ever in BBO, making it a longer season than usual, at 6 weeks.
Matthew and Neil have observed iris far outside woods on several occasions, and that has been our experience too, although most of these were in gardens not far from woods. Noteworthy was a sighting on the ground [with photographic evidence] of a male in a tree nursery, about 5km distant from the nearest  wood where iris had been seen, in north Oxfordshire.
'Special' events: 1] For the first time in BBO, ab lugenda was seen. 2] On August 1st, 4 females were seen at sap in an Oak knothole in Rushbeds Wood, and this behaviour continued until August 6th. 3] In  the very small wood mentioned above, a member observed 6 males pursuing a female high up in the Oaks.
All in all, a season to remember.

Another Christmas Present

Prints available of oil painting featured on front cover of new book on BB's Butterflies.  £35.  See http://www.roseworldproductions.com/fine-arts/purple-emperor-apatura-iris 

In Hibernation

Last Sunday all the wild iris larvae I checked were still in full Lincoln green.  Normally, a fair few have started to colour up by then (Oct 20th) and the odd one may even be in hibernation.

They've been colouring up fast this week, both in captivity and in the wild, so that today in the wild only 3 out of 28 seen were still in full Lincoln.  Most were about 20-50% coloured up, and the first hibernating larvae was found.  Here he is, in a fork of 1cm diameter twigs.

Interestingly, several were seen adding silk to their seat leaf stalk, to strengthen it to cope with the developing wind.  Unfortunately it was too windy to photograph that! 

Ditty

Some 40 years ago The Muse visited me and left me with the following:-

My eyes have seen the glory of the Purple Emperor,
He was flying round an oak tree that was very very tall,
He got pestered by a hairstreak that was very very small,
So he.................................................................................. .

Unfortunately, or perhaps mercifully, The Muse departed before I managed to finish the thing.  Do feel free to complete it...

Record Egg Lay!

Delighted to report that my annual standardised search for Purple Emperor larvae in & around Savernake Forest has produced a staggering total of 179, comfortably beating the previous record of 141 in 2009.  It is all the more amazing as I found just 24 in 2012. 

These figures are derived from 40 hours of searching on a representative selection of trees - i.e. not merely homing in on the best-looking trees in known hot spots.  The data include eggs (only I don't search for them much), live larvae, the distinctive seat pads & feeding leaves of failed larvae plus or minus associated egg case bases. 

Interestingly, the breeding grounds have shifted this year. 

Also, larvae of Buff Tip, Pebble Prominent and Dot Moth are all unusually numerous on sallow foliage this autumn, though the Sallow Flea Beetle is not having a particularly good year. 

Here's one larvae that didn't make it (though it still counts as one of the 179 finds).  This is only the second perished larva I've found during the five years -

And here's a happy caterpillar doing a poo...