Padfield

[NickB]

Hi Pawpawsaurus
I think Aurelian will be OK. These temperatures are within the "normal" range for him.....
N

[Padfield]

Thanks for the concern! Yes, purple emperors survive in parts of Eastern Europe where temperatures drop well below these levels, so Aurelian should be fine. If anything, the permasnow that is now stuck to the twigs should protect him from hungry birds. I won't get a chance to check him before Sunday (or maybe Saturday afternoon) but I'll give an update when I do. My bigger worry was that the higher temperatures had woken him, as he had moved the last time I visited.

And thanks for the other comments too - yes, I know I don't suffer alone, Annoying Czech!

When the accelerator's up and running that central pipe carries two beams of proton pulses travelling in opposite directions at almost the speed of light.

Hi Guy,

You say that as those we are supposed to be impressed. Now, if they travelled at almost the speed of neutrinos....

Simon

Good point, Simon.

Guy

[Matsukaze]

I have read somewhere that His Majesty regularly survives temperatures a fair bit colder than this in areas of eastern Siberia.

[Simon C]

When the accelerator's up and running that central pipe carries two beams of proton pulses travelling in opposite directions at almost the speed of light.

Hi Guy,

You say that as those we are supposed to be impressed. Now, if they travelled at almost the speed of neutrinos....

Simon

[Padfield]

As I said a couple of posts ago, Simon...

Guy

[Simon C]

As I said a couple of posts ago, Simon...

Guy

Brilliant!

Simon

[David M]

LOL! Very good.

Guy, how much colder is it than normal in Switzerland at the moment? I've seen horror stories lately about conditions in eastern Europe, such as wind chill added temperatures of -40c in Serbia!! (and here in Wales it's a mere -7.5c)

[Padfield]

Coincidentally, the Torygraph has been trying out its new neutrino drive this week. This article appeared in the online edition today:



To answer David's question, this level of cold is unusual but not unprecedented in the time I have lived in Switzerland. When I woke up this morning I had no water, hot or cold, in the bathroom or kitchen and the cat's water (which is in the bathroom) was frozen solid, even though I had reluctantly left some heating on overnight (I only have electric radiators, which are a bit of a fire hazard in an old chalet). Jack Frost had been doodling at my windows again:



But it was a beautiful morning as I left for school:



The maximum afternoon temperature was -13°C. It is supposed to drop to -24°C tonight.

I did go down to check on Aurelian but I couldn't see him. He is somewhere under this snow:



I didn't disturb the snow. There's nothing I can do if he's not there and I'm sure he is. I couldn't tell exactly which branch he was on because the weight of the snow had changed their positions and it turns out iPhones don't work at -15°C (the phone was in my jacket pocket) so I couldn't check previous photos. The phone worked again after I had put it in my trouser pocket for a bit but that was too late.

Here are Aurelian's woods:



As I returned home a green woodpecker crossed the path in front of me. It set me wondering what he could possibly find to eat in this weather. I think he had been digging for wood ants, as a wood ant nest had been excavated near the path, where he came from, and there were all sorts of footprints in the snow, as well as wing marks:




(woodpecker wings?)

Guy

[Padfield]

The cold has continued - the temperature has remained well below zero for a long time now. I took a walk around my village today to check on the wintering butterflies. Here is the view to the valley:



And here a stream in Aurelian's woods:



Aurelian himself appears to be fine. The snow has fallen from his twig and he looks in the pink of health, if a little hairy for a 6-month old:



He is very well camouflaged as a bud - in fact, it always takes me a while to locate him as I have to peer up into the light and many buds have exactly his profile (I pull the branch down to get these photos).



Here is a purple hairstreak egg, against some clumped snow still sticking to the oak tree:



And here a brown hairstreak:



On 12th Feb 2011 I saw my first Queens of Spain and red admirals were defending territories on 13th Feb. This year the season still seems a long way away, so it was especially nice to find three species of hibernating early stages and dream about the summer.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

If I can't beat you Guy with you cat piccies, then I have to join you with one of mine. Minnie was born with only 3½ legs and should really have been called "Tripod" of "Hopalong".

Jack

[Padfield]

She looks very sleek and beautiful, Jack! My cat, KC (his official name, on his passport, is Kitten Cat), is very similar, having just a single white medallion on his chest.

Some animals learn to behave like humans. KC learned to behave like a dog, because throughout the life of my late, lamented border collie, Asha, he was no. 2 in the household and aspired to be no. 1. When Asha died, KC filled the void wonderfully, trotting around the house after me and even sleeping in Asha's basket (which is still by my bed).

However, where Asha used to sit on the floor at my feet while I played Beethoven on the piano, KC jumps onto the keys and marches up and down. If I put him on the floor, he jumps back up again and continues marching, tunelessly. Cats' fondness for playing the piano has inspired a truly wonderful piano concerto by Mindaugas Piecaitis. All who love music and cats should watch this beautiful video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeoT66v4EHg[/video]

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Brilliant! Thx for sharing - I wish I was that creative!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

We found the video hilarious. Sadly our other cat Fluffy was bored by all this silliness.

Jack

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Guy,

Thanks for posting.

All who love music and cats should watch this beautiful video:

My daughter is going to luuuuuuv it ...

Our cat is just curled up in the airing cupboard at the moment (Grade 7 on the Guitar!)

Kind regards. Mark

[Padfield]

I hope your daughter did luuuuuuve it, Mark!

The big thaw arrived on Wednesday. In fact, it snowed heavily on Wednesday and through the night, so there was at least 40cm of fresh snow on Thursday morning, but as often happens, fresh snowfall is associated with warmer weather coming through. By a miracle, I was in the house when the hot pipes defrosted. One of them had clearly burst in the freeze and I immediately heard the sound of rushing water in the walls of the house, as the hot tank emptied, instantly thawing out all the other pipes. All at once, the cold taps returned to normal and the cisterns began filling. I quickly identified the hot pipes as having burst, cut off the water to them and rang a plumber. I'm very rarely in the house during the day. It was a stroke of extremely good fortune that I happened to be there to deal with this emergency!

Today, Saturday, sunshine was forecast. I left Kitten Cat in feline ecstasy, warming his old bones in the sitting room for the first time in weeks, and headed off down to the valley.



Arriving on site at about 11.30am, the first thing I noticed was a freshly emerged clouded yellow, still soft and wet and also, it seemed, a little deformed, though I don't know how much he would have been able to pump these wings straight afterwards:





What is that green fluid on him?

When I passed the same spot a couple of hours later he had gone, so either he had become independently mobile or one of the many scuttling lizards had taken him.

It was warm in the valley - probably about 9°C by the afternoon - but very little was flying. I was surprised not to see a single Queen of Spain. The Bulbocodium was out in the meadows and honey bees were stacking up on its bright yellow pollen:



Firebugs were mating everywhere:



By the time I left, at about 2.30pm, I had seen a total of 5 small tortoiseshells:



A single red admiral proved cruised past at one point and I got a proof shot when it landed briefly some distance away:



In the sky, ravens were croaking and practising their acrobatics:



I also glimpsed a single red kite in the distance:



I think it had got something:



I was back in snowy Huémoz village by 4.30pm.



This isn't the butterfly season yet, but it seems the pre-season fun is just beginning to kick off. If the sun lasts, there should be Queens flying before next week is out.

Guy

[David M]

Lovely stuff as ever, Guy.

Is that your chalet in the last picture?

[NickMorgan]

Lovely to hear that butterflies are starting to show there. It gives me some hope that spring isn't too far away. A colleague saw a red admiral here two days ago, but that was during a lovely warm day, and it has returned to more normal temperatures now.

[Padfield]

David: No - my chalet is just off right of this picture.

It's not really spring here - just a blip in the winter. In fact, it's tipping with snow today. Small tortoiseshells always put on a winter show - and I guess it must be productive, as they build up to huge numbers long before spring - but red admirals and clouded yellows are migrants outside their comfort zone, behaving as if they were within it. Clouded yellows sometimes survive the winter productively but are wiped out most years, and red admirals very rarely produce a spring generation.

The temperatures forecast for that site in the middle of next week are minima of c. -6°C and maxima of c. 7°C, with sun and clear skies. That will be enough for those species to fly and perhaps for the Queens to emerge. We'll see!

Guy

[Padfield]

Cooler weather has moved in, with a morning minimum of -9°C in the valley and an afternoon maximum today of 6°C. With a chilly breeze it felt quite nippy. Nevertheless, a couple of Queens were on the wing, as I predicted, laying an early claim on the best territories:



A few small tortoiseshells were sparring for the hotspots on a sunny bank:



This frozen stream, near where that QoS photo was taken, shows how low the ambient temperature still is:



And this is Aurelian yesterday:



I was pleased to note that a set of three follow-up questions on yesterday's University Challenge was devoted to the emperor Aurelian, after whom my protégé is named.

Guy

[David M]

That caterpillar's suffered a lot. I sure hope he reaches maturity.