Emperor

[CapAndBracket]

First Male Emperor moth to emerge, he will soon be released to enjoy the wonderful sunshine we are promised, While i go hunting fungi. (should see a lot of lepidoptera as well me thinks).

Cheers J.P.

[ChrisJB]

I've never seen one of these and live close to a nice heather moor where I am sure they would occur. Does anyone have any tips to see them, ie best time of day, etc?

Regards, Chris

[mrs fish]

That is a beautiful moth

My book says........The moths are active in April and May when the males fly about by day searching for females which they locate by their characteristic scent, the females fly only at night. The main food plant is heather but larvae are also found on bramble and other plants.
They are usually found in moorland areas.

[oxycera]

One of those species that are easier to find in the larval state. The Birch Sawfly is another that springs to mind.

[Cheryl]

What a beautiful moth - I'd love to see one of those

[CapAndBracket]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

I've never seen one of these and live close to a nice heather moor where I am sure they would occur. Does anyone have any tips to see them, ie best time of day, etc?

Regards, Chris

I'm afraid as somebody else has mentioned, easier found in the larval stage, but there is always hope, some do get caught in moth traps (though i have yet to trap one), these would normally be females which fly at night to egg lay. They can be found by day (if you are lucky) hanging on the side of herbage trees etc on your moorland, they keep quite still and release pheramones to attract a male.

The males fly by day looking for females, and they sure fly at a pace, if you catch a glimpse you may well think it was just a fast tortishell rushing by, thats about the best approximation of how it looks flying.

I was lucky two years ago to find two caterpillars in August and kept them through the winter (as cocoons) and last spring a female emerged first, taking her to the common in a sandwich box in the evening and just remove lid and place on the ground, she made no attempt to fly and before i had time to finnish a cigaret a male had appeared and assembled with her (so they must be common). That night she laid eggs and i released her to the wild the next morning. The other i released when it emerged.

A couple of weeks later i had 128 catapillers, i kept them on bramble, clean box and food every day, and gradually kept putting a few catapillers back to the wild, ended up with 26 cocoons last July, leave these out of direct sunlight until November then place in bottom of fridge (in airtight box so they don't dry out like bread does left in the fridge), remove once a fortnight and take top of box for 10 minutes to allow air to change, reseal and back in fridge, mid April remove from fridge and place under sink so they warm up gradually and begining of May they start to emerge.

Cheers J.P.

[outdoorguy]

great pic.. kept these when i was at school i remember the caterpillars ended up being huge.. and i can still remember wot the large sweet jar i kept them in smelled like.. haven't seen one for ages.. james

[CapAndBracket]

For comparison, the photo above is two females, the one on the right has just emerged from cocoon and hasn't inflated wings, its amazing as i type they are now half inflated, if nature isn't miraculouse then i don't know what is.

Cheers J.P.