Padfield

[MikeOxon]

I'm enjoying your splendid Emperor cat photos and they are a fine tribute to your Canon SX520 as well - really crisp detail in those fine hairs. I cannot help feeling how extraordinary life is - all that magnificent structure develops, mostly to go down a birds throat or be parasitised! Of course, I know that if it wasn't like that, then none of them would win the endless battles for survival but it can be hard to understand

[David M]

Guy, you keep using 'he' or 'she' to describe these larvae. Is this more to do with the names you've assigned to them or can you actually tell the gender at this stage?

[Padfield]

I cannot help feeling how extraordinary life is - all that magnificent structure develops, mostly to go down a birds throat or be parasitised!

It is quite awe-inspiring, and humbling too, I think. To give the full verse of which I quoted the last line a post or two back (from Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard):

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

As true for nations and empires as for kings and (purple) emperors.

Guy, you keep using 'he' or 'she' to describe these larvae. Is this more to do with the names you've assigned to them or can you actually tell the gender at this stage?

No, I have no idea what sex any of these caterpillars are. I used to give them (Roman) imperial titles, as if they were all male, but now I am making an effort to give some male names and some female. I opted for Hindu names because last summer, as I watched them growing, shedding their skins and dying, I found verses from the Bhagavadgītā going round and round in my head. The life-affirming piety of ancient India suits these little creatures so much better than the martial spirit of Rome! Next season's will be just as difficult to pronounce correctly, if not more so - I'm going to name them after notable Bodhisattvas ...

Guy

[Padfield]

Cats in the rain.

Here is Agni, now definitely laid up for ecdysis:



He was so big and grown-up-looking the last time I photographed him I claimed he was 'certainly' fourth instar. But he can't have been. Expect more photos of him when he has made the transition.

Here he is in context:



Elsewhere, Durgā, several millimetres shorter, was also laid up:



Compare her neckline with Śiva's, who is not laid up:



A white admiral cat in the rain ...



... and a brown hairstreak cat, who had managed to keep himself dry:





Minnie, exhausted from caterpillar hunting ...



Guy

[Goldie M]

Great shot of Minnie Guy, she stole the show and made me laugh which I need today with the weather being so cold Goldie

[Padfield]

Thanks Goldie. Yes, Minnie is a joy-bringer.

I haven't been able to get out butterflying all term - it is sunny during the week and cloudy at the weekends. Hence all the purple emperor caterpillar pictures. Today I had an hour or so at lunch so popped down to check on them and found no. 12, Yudhiṣṭhira. He is interesting because he is in a very shady part of the copse and is still tiny - about 7mm long. It is possible he is one of the rare few that hibernate in 2nd instar but I won't know for certain unless I can follow him through a couple more skin changes.



The pattern of leaf-nibbling is also more consistent with 2nd instar than 3rd but this is not a reliable feature.

Gaṅgā is now laid up for ecdysis:



I haven't been able to check on Bhīma and Kṛṣṇa recently because the track to their part of the woods is closed off for wood cutting:



I just have to hope this has no impact on the sallows or their shade.

White admiral cats are out and about and easy to find now. Some of them lie up on twigs and stems between bouts of eating but some pop back into their hibernacula. This caterpillar, for example, photographed yesterday, is fully active and has been guzzling those terminal leaves, but here he is back in his sleeping bag:



And to close, a lizard from lunchtime today, keeping an eye on it all ...



Guy

[Jack Harrison]

My wife Stella is tolerant (but not much more than that) of my enthusiasm for butterflies. So although no interest in your PE larvae, she really laughed at your picture of Minnie.

Jack

[David M]

If these are the images we can expect of larvae and Jack Russells, then I can only look forward immensely to when the Swiss weather finally perks up and you get the opportunity to capture some butterflies for us!

[Neil Freeman]

Just catching up on your diary Guy, great reports and images of all the larvae... and Minnie of course

... I found verses from the Bhagavadgītā going round and round in my head...

Now there's something I don't read every day

Cheers,

Neil

[Padfield]

Thank you for the comments. I'm glad Minnie entertains even those who haven't caught the bug bug yet! If the weather carries on as it is at the moment it will be iris cats and jack Russells for the rest of the year - it poured today and yesterday. This is probably good for the purple emperors, some of whom have lost shade due to human activity (the foresters, to be precise) and will benefit from the moisture while they are still small and in danger of drying out. When they get bigger they become increasingly fond of the sun.

I checked on all 12 of my protégés this morning and all were well. Neither Bhīma nor Agni have shed their skins yet, so no new larval stages to show. This is baby Yudhiṣṭhira from below, caught in a brief moment when the sun broke through the cloud:



And this is him from above:



Sarasvatī has finally turned the same lime-green as her siblings and cousins:



Guy

[Jack Harrison]

I have a question about Minnie. Does she speak English, French or Swiss German?

I'll rephrase that. What language do you use when you speak to her?

Jack

[Padfield]

I have a question about Minnie. Does she speak English, French or Swiss German?

I'll rephrase that. What language do you use when you speak to her?

Jack

I speak randomly in English or French to her most of the time but for commands I use specific words, some of which are English and some French. She comes to 'retour!' or 'viens!' but stays put to 'stay! I entice her with 'cadeau!' (I call all sweets and treats 'cadeaux') but feed her to 'din-dins!' She sits to 'assis!' and goes sheepish when I say, 'now I'm cross!' I'm going to have to teach her 'couché(e)' soon, as some schoolchildren we met on the train were most disappointed she didn't lie down on demand.

More rain today. This is Agni, whose name means 'fire,' sitting in a puddle:



Guy

[Padfield]

And Agni today:



Notice his old skin at his feet and his old head peeping round the leaf ...

Guy

[Padfield]

Just catching up on your diary Guy, great reports and images of all the larvae... and Minnie of course

... I found verses from the Bhagavadgītā going round and round in my head...

Now there's something I don't read every day

Cheers,

Neil

Specially for you, Neil, I've overlaid Agni with a verse from the Gītā (2.22).



Literally translated, it reads:

As a man casts off old garments and takes up other, new ones,
So, casting off old bodies, the embodied self moves on to other, new ones.

Guy

[trevor]

HI Guy,

I must say He looks to be a very fine Fella !. ( or it may turn out to be a very fine Empress!).

Best wishes,
TREVOR.

[Padfield]

They are very fine creatures indeed, Trevor! And fascinating too...

It is still raining. The rivers are in spate, the paths are rivers and earth is slipping. Last night, despite this, it was amazingly warm, the breeze feeling almost hot on the back of the neck. I took these pictures of the sky with my iPhone:







It rained throughout our lunchtime walk today, making photography difficult without risking destroying the camera. Near Sugrīva's bush I spotted a cluster of iris-nibbled leaves high up in a different tree and tried for about ten minutes to see the caterpillar I knew must be lurking up there. It seemed impossible, and when I pointed the camera up for more than a few seconds the lens got flooded, but suddenly I spotted him, chewing his way round the edge of a leaf, and got this shot on full zoom:



Voilà! This is Nakula, brother of the heroes Arjuna, Bhīma and Yudhiṣṭhira, and twin brother of Sahadeva, who does not as yet have an iris cat named after him. Nakula is number 13 for 2015 (and all the other 12 are stil alive and well). Sahadeva will be number 14 if and when I find him ...

Agni, of my last post, is huge and growing almost visibly. At the other end of the scale, Yudhiṣṭhira is still only 9mm or less:



I wish I had something to report other than wet purple emperor caterpillars (to be fair, I do have a few wet white admiral caterpillars) but rain has basically stopped play out here. I've never seen so few species by mid-May.

Guy

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Guy,

Thanks for the special post with the verse, very apt. That script looks like an art form in its own right

Here's hoping that your weather improves soon so you can treat us to all those wonderful images that we have become used to

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

It has seemingly rained for weeks in your part of Europe, Guy. Is there any let up in sight?

[Padfield]

Thanks Neil. I agree - Devanāgarī is a beautiful script.

Intermission is in sight, David. Monday and Tuesday next week might be sunny, with some sun on Sunday too. In fact, there was some sun today and a few adult butterflies were tempted to take to the wing. This female orange tip paused long enough on my lunchtime walk for me to get a few shots:







After school I caught up with my first wall of the year:



Also from the later walk, study in jagged edges ...



And here is one of the painted ladies that have been passing through in ones and twos for about a month:



On the caterpillar front, I think this is a meadow brown:







And I can't resist it - Agni:



Guy

[Pete Eeles]

On the caterpillar front, I think this is a meadow brown

I think so too, Guy - definitely a Satyrid - and the pink "tails" and amount of hair is pretty characteristic of Meadow Brown. I just don't understand why it would be crawling over the path / road - surely doomed if any bird sees it!

Cheers,

- Pete