Of the Empress's recent union

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:07]I think there's a general rule that if you can do it while you're sitting down, why bother doing it when you're standing up? At least I suspect that's what the male emperor moth, which was attracted to the female emperor moth at this very spot a fortnight ago, might have said.

[00:00:25]We have the result of that union between male emperor moth and female emperor moth, which I brought down here to be mated.

[00:00:37]And now there are probably 50 or so baby emperor moth caterpillars in here, all of which started hatching during the night.

[00:00:51]It's release time, something which I love doing. It's a way of putting something back.

[00:01:31]Well, this kind of habitat is absolutely ideal for emperor moths, as we saw a fortnight ago by attracting that male emperor moth to the female, but this rough grassland track side gravel pit habitat brambles various species of scrub trees is just what the doctor ordered for these little chaps in here.

[00:01:58]And I'll be putting them on areas of bramble in this area.

[00:02:03]The large stand of bramble is just to the side of me, but just at the back there is a smaller, more discreet patch of brambles. And I think that might be our first port of call to drop some of these onto.

[00:02:30]A delicate job, this.

[00:02:34]I look a bit rough, but these are tough little babies.

[00:02:50]They all want their taste of freedom.

[00:03:19]I'm choosing a place for the ones that drop off drop onto all the leaves below this.

[00:03:41]So, their first taste of fresh spring air in the light breeze that we have today on another glorious morning.

[00:04:12]So, I've let them out into three groups. They will sort themselves out.

[00:04:18]They're not all in the same place.

[00:04:24]These caterpillars don't build a communal web or anything like that, and they will start munching on this bramble by the end of today.

[00:04:42]If you wondered about size, these are probably 6 mm in length, maybe even 7 to be honest.

[00:04:49]For a young, newly hatched larva, they are on somewhat on the large size.

[00:04:58]And I can see that some are already on the underside of the leaves, and will begin feeding imminently, but they are lovely little things. Easy to get to pair up the female.

[00:05:16]And these are readily available to buy pretty much in all stages.

[00:05:26]But, the trouble is, if you're buying from a commercial breeder, quite often they're far too advanced in their development compared to the wild.

[00:05:37]So, just be careful who you buy from.

[00:05:46]Super little things.

[00:06:08]What a great sight this is.

[00:06:11]And they're very quick to start and go their own way.

[00:06:18]Find their favorite little leaf of bramble.

[00:06:23]And hopefully these will all do well and grow up to become adults next year.

[00:06:31]Many won't make it there unfortunately, but that's just how it is. That's just a fact of life for an invertebrate.

[00:06:41]Perilous existence from the egg through to the adult.

[00:07:11]Our job done.

[00:07:13]Nice to be able to release a good number.

[00:07:18]It never looks as many as they actually are when they're all together in a container. It's not until you start and take them out of out the container to release them that you realize that you know, there's a lot more here than what I thought there was.

[00:07:33]But I have a few left at home which I'm going to rear again.

[00:07:40]I like to rear emperor moths.

[00:07:44]Great reward for all your efforts in a year's time.

[00:07:51]We will wish these well.