Padfield

[Padfield]

Thanks David, Chris and Pete.

It should be said that here, at least, white admiral hibernacula are really very easy to spot. As Pete says, they are remarkably well attached with copious silk and by this time of year, when almost all the previous season's leaves have fallen, they stick out a mile (figuratively speaking). I look forward to seeing the tiny caterpillars relishing the fresh leaves when they are fully unfurled.

Guy

[Padfield]

To the best of my knowledge, only three of my iris cats have made it through the winter. Of 13 eggs hatched, this is probably beating the odds - but it still leaves a small chance of any of them surviving to adulthood.

Sarasvatī - she of raindrops and puddles - has yet to move but is visibly greening up:



Durgā is has moved to a leaf bud but is still waiting for it to open:



Sugrīva is in the same position, elsewhere in the woods:



Guy

[Padfield]

Elsewhere, at least one of my local betulae eggs has hatched:



The caterpillar was nowhere to be seen - most probably tucked away in one of the still-furled leaf buds at the end of the twig.

This one looked ready to hatch any day:



All over the woods trees are coming into leaf but the emperor cats have not begun feeding yet.

Guy

[Padfield]

Sarasvatī has finally moved to a leaf. As there weren't any leaves on her twig she travelled quite some distance (c. 70cm) to the terminal leaves of another branch, where it took me some time to spot her. She really hasn't coloured up very much yet and looks quite dark compared to the spring foliage:



Soon, she should be bright green.

Durgā was also guzzling away but what really pleased me was to find Śiva again. He had disappeared at hibernation time and painstaking, twig-by-twig searches of his sallow had failed to turn him up, so I had given him up for lost. But today, voilà! There he was again, just a few leaves away from his consort, Durgā:



As this was their first feeding day I didn't go for brilliant pictures but just let them be, to enjoy their meals. Next time I'll try and get real portraits of them and their settings.

Guy

[Padfield]

First new purple emperor discovery of the season - meet Agni:





I think he is almost ready to be thinking about his next skin change ...

The white admiral caterpillars are generally out and about now:



But some still seem to be sleepy heads ...



Guy

[Pauline]

Some great shots Guy. I do enjoy your diary as it presents a fresh view of things whilst at the same time focusing on stuff that is happening right now on my local patch. Very informative and educational as well as entertaining. Thank you.

[Chris Jackson]

Excellent photos Guy. Change is in the air.
Chris

[David M]

Yet again you are spoiling us, Guy.

I sincerely hope that this year will see you able to track one of these precious larvae through pupation.

[Padfield]

Thank you, Pauline, Chris and David. I hope I'll be able to find a few more purple emperor caterpillars over the coming weeks but even five gives me a chance of seeing one through to pupation. In 2011-2 I followed just one (Aurelian) through hibernation and he survived all the way - I just never found his pupa. Last year, three of 9 lasted from April to pupation (I watched two of these pupate but lost the third). We'll see!

At this time of year, the key to finding the larvae is looking for fresh, terminal or subterminal leaf clusters where one or more of the leaves have gnawed edges. The newly awoken caterpillars are very hungry and soon leave their mark, as these pictures of Durgā and Śiva, taken today, show:





Guy

[Padfield]

Though I say it myself, I'm getting quite good at finding purple emperor caterpillars. We hosted a Swiss Schools mathematics competition today and Minnie only got a very short walk at lunchtime, so when I got home after school I took her on a proper walk, during which I discovered another two caterpillars, bringing my 2015 total to seven so far. The first I named Gaṅgā - the goddess of the Ganges. Unfortunately, she was not well placed for photos at that time of day, being on the side of the tree diametrically away from the sun. But for the record, here she is:



My second new discovery was Māyā, goddess of illusion:



As I suspected he would, Agni has laid himself up for his next skin change, into fourth instar:



Over the next couple of days he will adopt an increasingly prayerful posture, before shedding his 3rd instar skin.

Sarasvatī is finally looking green, though not yet the bright, lime green of her cousins and siblings:



Durgā has changed leaves and adopted the classic iris cat pose at her new leaf tip:



Guy

[kevling]

Guy,

Simply loving the PE story unfolding and your photographs are wonderful. I chuckled at your comments of a 'record shot' of Gaṅgā. That would probably rate as one of my better photos
Looking forward to seeing their journey through to the end.

Regards Kev

[Padfield]

Thank you for the kind comments, Kev. The sad truth is, most of these hopeful creatures will die before flying. I've been following purple emperor caterpillars since 2010 and of 5 pupae I've had the privilege to observe only one has hatched into an adult butterfly - and that one wouldn't have done if I hadn't rescued it after the foresters cut down his sallows (see viewtopic.php?f=87&t=6972).

Ah well ... The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Guy

[Padfield]

Very dark and gloomy weather here this weekend so Minnie and I stayed local and checked the iris cats, adding two more to their number. First was Kṛṣṇa (apologies for the pedantic use of diacriticals, but I've spelt all the others correctly so I may as well spell Kṛṣṇa correctly too). He was in a quite different part of the forest from all the others so I will not be checking on him every day. We do this longer walk two or three times a week.



Here is that leaf from below, showing what drew my attention to him:



The next new one, this time on the shorter circuit (the longer walk includes all of the shorter one), was Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa's beautiful consort. She is in the middle of this picture:



Agni seemed much grown today and is certainly 4th instar. I'm wondering now if he has been 4th instar since I found him and I was wrong about the laying up for ecdysis:





Finally, here is my first shot of Sugrīva since he started feeding:



I photographed nine different purple emperor caterpillars today.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Pauline

Very informative and educational as well as entertaining. Thank you.

I couldn't agree more.

Swiss Schools mathematics competition

Come on Guy. Post some sample questions. Maybe better to email so my 1960 B.Sc isn't put to too much public embarrassment.

Jack

[Padfield]

Thanks, Jack.

Come on Guy. Post some sample questions.

It was a junior competition, so your 1960 B.Sc. should suffice ... And as the questions are in the public domain now I guess there's no harm in posting one (though I might edit the thread later, to preserve its butterfly integrity).

This was written by me, so there can't be any copyright issues. No calculators allowed, obviously.



Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Forgive my hesitancy is providing the answer Guy but a bottle of Chardonnay* is not ideal to for the lucid thinking required to carry out such a computation.
Will put my rested brain to it in the morning.

No particular reason for the Chardonnay* other than the fact that I am celebrating being still here well into my 77th year.

* £5.50 at the local Spar.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

From the given sine alpha = 3,
2 + y = 3 * 2 hence y = 4
But (y + 2 + 2 + r + r) also = sine alpha
So y + 4 + r = 3 r that is r = 4
Height x = y + 4 + 2r = 4 + 4 +8 = 16
X = 16 cms

Far better is the:
......man from Porthcawl
Who had a mathematical ball.
It height minus 8
Plus 3 times its weight
Was half the square root of **** *** (very little)

Jack

[Padfield]

Good work Jack! Your body may be creaking a little with your 76 years but your mind is as clear as ever.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Good work Jack! Your body may be creaking a little with your 76 years but your mind is as clear as ever.

I was delighted to read recently that some research suggests that the obese are less likely to suffer from dementia

And last year, just after my 76th birthday, a couple of young men said that I didn't look my age. They were in stitches when I replied.
"Ah, but fat people don't look shrivelled."

Not many advantages to being overweight but there are a few!

But I do get a little confused at times. Last week in Strathdon.



Jack

[Padfield]

Vey good!

I was in meetings in Montreux this morning and didn't get back till the sun was well past the meridian on another gloomy, damp day. As Minnie had spent nearly an hour in the backpack while I cycled (the scenic route) back to Aigle we treated ourselves to a long forest walk on our return. I was going to look for silver-washed fritillary cats, inspired by Pauline's diary, but in the end was once again intoxicated by iris and devoted the whole walk to them.

Two new cats joined the mythical canon today - Arjuna (reluctant hero of the Bhagavadgītā) and Bhīma (Arjuna's mighty brother, the type of courage). This is Arjuna:



He is a fat, well fed 3rd instar cat. His brother, Bhīma, is laid up for ecdysis. This time there is no doubt. The prayerful posture is absolutely classic:



I surveyed all 11 purple emperor caterpillars today, finding all of them quite easily. This is looking promising! The hardest to find was Māyā, who was living perfectly up to her name (māyā is Sanskrit for illusion). You will see her easily in this picture but it was not nearly so easy to spot her in real life!



Yesterday I showed a photo of Kṛṣṇa's leaf from below. It was eaten into from one side. By today, following secret instructions passed down to all purple emperor caterpillars in their genes, he had eaten the other side of the leaf, to leave the classic pattern:

Yesterday:



Today:



Finally, here is Sugrīva, playing peek-a-boo. He is the least accessible of my cats and I can only photograph him on maximum zoom. I think he knows it.



Guy