Thank you Goldie, it certainly goes some way to make up for it, but I am still kicking myself
As far as I can recall Buggy I have never won anything in my life, so wouldn't that be nice
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
However, there's loads of cracking diaries out there - including yours!
That's really helpful detail Martin. I seem to have had a few problems with pupa recently but thankfully they seemed to resolve themselves. Certainly worth knowing tho. Thank you
In the beginning ......
If you have a short attention span, or you are easily bored, then look away now as this post is quite a long one. It all started way back in the Spring of 2014. A friend was keen to find and photograph a SWF larva so we spent the best part of several outings scouring dog violets and leaf litter in the Straits where SWF are reasonably plentiful. Not the same could be said of the dog violets as we struggled to find them in any great numbers in the ‘right’ location, ie, at the base of moss covered Oak Trees. I resolved to keep my eyes open for egg-laying females that Summer but it was quite by chance that I stumbled upon many oviposting females in a totally different part of the Alice Holt complex, including my first ever seen Valesina. Up to a dozen butterflies spent the whole of the afternoon egg-laying on the same 3 trees – it was just so surreal watching them all and it was something I never even imagined would ever happen. I resolved to return the following Spring and take some shots of the larva.
![P1380730ad.jpg (363.27 KiB) Viewed 665 times P1380730ad.jpg](./files/thumb_1095_bd81973b25b656ca86673dc6e92145b2)
![P1380743ad.jpg (272.92 KiB) Viewed 665 times P1380743ad.jpg](./files/thumb_1095_7fb31c2fe17b8a0882e971965ac5ad11)
(There are 6 eggs in this shot but several trunks were covered in them)
(One of the eggs has already hatched)
I was surprised at the number of larva and the ease with which they could be found and visited several times to try to watch their development and compare it with the White Admiral cats which I had at home.
(This pose is very reminiscent of that adopted by the WA which I was rearing, presumably for the same reason, ie. protection from predators)
However, personal circumstances at that time prevented me from visiting as often as I would like so I decided to rear one at home where comparisons would be easier to make. Given the number of larva present at this site (and also the number of spiders and snails) I did not think one would be missed – and after all, I was only ‘borrowing’ it. I have lots of dog violet at home, so I dug some up and put it in a pot within a mesh cage. When I checked it the following day there was no caterpillar but there were 2 slugs on the inside of the mesh!!!!!! I cursed myself! Would I never learn!!! I’d been here before and should have known there would have been slugs in the soil.
After some thought I decided to return for a second larva but this time I was determined to get it right. I made certain the plants were ‘clean’. I had read about sterilising the soil with boiling water but this just left a sloppy mess. I therefore decided to start with fresh compost and decided to put it on a tray in the oven and ‘bake’ it to kill anything which it contained that might be unwanted
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
. About 15 mins later I smelled burning and rushed in from the garden to find I’d almost set the oven on fire – the compost was glowing red and the oven was full of smoke!!!
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
I eventually got another pot set up with sterilised compost, clean plants and caterpillar installed. I started to dismantle the original pot and as I pulled up the plants, lo and behold, there was the original larva that I thought had been eaten by slugs!!!! So, I now had 2 WA larva and 2 SWF larva (an heir and a spare!!)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
.
The SWF cats grew well and I gained a lot of interest and pleasure from watching and recording their development. However, just before they were due to pupate, one of them went missing. I was convinced there were no predators in the cage. There was no way anything could get in – or out, so escape was ruled out. The next thought to cross my mind was cannibalism, but there was plenty of food available. I just had to know what was going on so I got an old large sheet and carefully started to take the soil out of the pot. About 4” down I found the cat, safe and well. What a relief, but what was he doing there? Panic over, but 3 days later the same thing happened again. I began to wonder if this cat wanted to pupate in the earth and resolved to leave it if the same thing happened again. Thankfully it didn’t but the cat chose to pupate on the mesh of the cage, despite a variety of different branches being provided. How do you even stop them doing that!!??
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
About a week later, the second also made several attempts to pupate on the mesh; each time I carefully returned him to a branch. He was determined and I was scared I was interfering too much so in the end he got his own way and pupated on the mesh!!
I resigned myself to that (though not good for later photos) but during some prolonged and severe winds he had been blown about badly and it looked as if the silken threads attaching him to the mesh were stretching, as he was hanging in a much lower position – which in turn caused him to be blown about more. Just as I thought I should move him to a more sheltered location, the threads gave way and the pupa landed on the soil!! What to do now?
I carefully, ever so carefully, glued the pupa to a twig. A little bit of glue found its way onto the pupal case, causing me some concern in case it was absorbed and resulted in the developing butterfly being glued to its pupa! Only time would tell... (to be continued).