Following on from yesterdays blog, one of the Orange-tip caterpillars I am raising has started to pupate into a chrysalis.
I was warned that this process could take up to 36 hours, but a lot of the main action happened this morning....
This was the caterpillar at 8.30am
Within 30 minutes it had dramatically changed to this....
and below is how it now looks....
A fully formed Orange-tip chrysalis.
The second caterpillar is about 2 days younger, so I expect it to go through the same process late tomorrow or Wednesday.
I still don't know if these will emerge as adult butterflies this year, or whether they will overwinter and emerge next spring. Only time will tell I guess.
As is becoming a routine, yesterday evening I watched the vixen and fox cubs for about 30 minutes from the lockdown loftroom. The vixen spent quite a bit of time on her own further towards the middle of the field, whilst the fox cubs played near their den. She was having a good groom and scratch when one of the fox cubs surprised here by creeping up behind her. A strong word from 'mum' and the cub scampered back to join its siblings.
I've given up apologising for the quality of the photos. As the cubs get bigger and start exploring the field more, I hope I'll get some better photos.
Today I ventured over to Cranford CP to do my first UKBMS transect of the year. We all had emails stating we can now resume our butterfly recording, and it really was lovely being back at the park. It was a fairly slow count as to be expected for the middle of May, but I clocked up seven species, including the Small Copper and Small Heath below.
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| Small Copper |
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| Small Heath |
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