Vote Purple!

The People of Purple Persuasion are pleased to publish their Manifesto for the forthcoming General Erection- 

The Economy  We have no views on this whatsoever, other than a firm commitment to re-regulate the banks.  We will raise income by 1) Prat Tax, 20% tax on prattish goods and activities, like finger nail extensions, jet skis, eating sushi, and supporting Chelsea; 2) scrapping Trident, whilst conning nutty states like North Korea and the USA into thinking we haven't; 3) tax bankers and fat cats bonuses at 90% above a £10k threshold; 4) tax all income over £100k / yr at 80%.  

Education  We are committed to restructuring the academic year, to make it start in January, with exams taking place in November, thus freeing up the summer.  There will therefore be a sabbatical term for everyone whilst this necessary adjustment is made. We will also scrap AS Levels and generally dumb down the entire targets, monitoring & reporting system in education, ban the teaching of French in schools, remove Little Dorrit from the English syllabus, halve and cap university fees. We will also bring back the cane and fagging. 

NHS  Remove bureaucracy, including targets, monitoring & reporting systems, HR & managerial systems, then leave it alone. Fund it properly.  

HR & bureaucracy  We believe strongly that people are human beings, not resources.  The HR industry will be vigorously restricted. Bureaucracy will be made a criminal offence.  We appreciate that this will put half the working population out of work, but they can do something useful instead.

Immigration  Bring it on!  We will encourage  massive annual influxes of croceus, and will help boeticus, gorganus, lathonia, plexippus, xanthomeles etc to colonize the UK.  We are committed to doubling the resident UK butterfly fauna by 2020.

Environment  We are committed to scrapping Defra and the Forestry Commission, facilitating access (without dogs) to all woods by revising the CRoW Act, removing all non-native conifers from the UK by 2020, scrapping the biodiversity industry, banning flail-cutting of hedges and verges, massive habitat reinstatement, abolish blood sports, and do a lot of other totally obvious things...

Transport  Reduce speed limits on motorways to 60mph (most of them are currently being dug up and have 50mph limits anyway, so this will actually represent an increase), ban lorries from overtaking on dual carriageways and 2-lane motorways, ban horse boxes and caravans from travelling outside the period 10pm to 5am, scrap HS2, remove irritating settlements like Westbury (A350 in Wiltshire) rather than bypass them.

Monarchy & National Identity  We will restructure the monarchy, such that the Purple Emperor Apatura iris becomes Emperor of the United Kingdom and Britain's National Butterfly. There will be a national holiday throughout the Purple Emperor season.  

Herself will become Prime Minister -

Taken: 8th July 2014

I hereby claim my badge for this photograph of Herself on the ground taken in Fermyn Wood, Northamptonshire on 1st July 2014.

                                                             

This very obliging female dropped down by my feet last July and spent 45 minutes imbibing in the damp earth. This was the first time in many years I have managed to photograph a female on the ground. I hope this earns me a badge!

Challenge badges

After reviewing some of the stunning images of female iris in 2014, I decided to include images from last season too.

As you can see from the photo, a rather novel reenactment of males chasing a female can be done on your lapel / hat / rucksack.

The following noteworthy individuals have qualified and will be receiving their badges for 2014:

Bill Seager, Neil Hulme, Mike Gibbons, Matthew Oates, Doug Goddard and Mark Tutton.

Entries for 2014 are now closed. Therefore, 13 badges remain so good luck for this season!

The next stage

This is Bhīma, one of 11 wild cats I am now following. He is in the classic, prayerful posture, indicating that he is going to shed his 3rd instar skin any day now and emerge into 4th instar.

This is a time of rapid growth. Having lived most of 3rd instar as ascetics, hardly eating at all in the autumn then fasting the whole winter, the newly wakened caterpillars are now guzzling the fresh foliage with relish, moving from leaf to leaf as they eat them up. Bhīma is nearly 9 months old and still small. In just a month and a half he will be fully grown and preparing to pupate.

Guy

News from the Alps

Almost all the sallow here in Switzerland (c. 1000m) is in leaf, with just a shady bush or two still in bud. The iris larvae have all woken up and most are feeding.

This is Agni, my most advanced cat. He looks as though he will be ready to shed his 3rd instar skin soon:

At the other end of the spectrum, Sugrīva has yet to begin feeding:

Sarasvatī had to move some distance to find foliage and has yet to green up:

Durgā and Śiva share a sapling right next to the path. This is Durgā, with Minnie, my Jack Russell, just discernible further along the track:

And this is Śiva. I thought I had lost him, because countless winter searches of every accessible twig on his sapling proved fruitless - I only found Durgā. But then yesterday, suddenly, there he was again!

Spring has sprung.

Guy

Greening Up Nicely!

Purple Emperor larvae have progressed considerably since waking up on Easter Monday, both in the wild and in captivity.  

Most are now fully greened up.  Some have even started feeding - by jumping the gun and biting into swelling leaf buds.  This is remarkable considering that they were still deep in hibernation on Easter Day.

Here are two from the wild on Tues 14th -

Note that both the buds in shot have been nibbled, and that this larva has grown visibly.  

An artistic shot, of a larvae waiting for leaf buds to unfurl.