November 2016 - Part 2
15th November 2016 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
A quite sunny afternoon for my visit, but rather cold. I heard Fieldfares and Bullfinches, but all insect life has seemingly disappeared until next year. The water level has dropped since my last visit, although water still reaches from the Coffee Pool to the reedbed. Ice had formed on the open water, as well as in Rock Bath 1. The only plant species still in flower (at 2 locations) was the Yellow Scabious.
16th November 2016 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
Teréz's images of the Mátrafüred Sawllowtail caterpillars:
17th November 2016 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
The Swallowtail caterpillars ... Teréz's photos:
22nd November 2016 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
Before paying a short visit to the SQ on a lovely sunny November morning, I photographed the three remaining Swallowtail butterfly young, which are now all at the cocoon stage. They completed their caterpillar stage whilst feeding on Dill, bought from the market in Gyöngyös, and whilst living in the kitchen at Mátrafüred! Now they will be placed in a container and relocated outside for the Winter. If they remained indoors, the comparatively high temperatures would probably cause them to complete their development too soon, before the Spring arrives, and therefore, before plants start to flower. One strange thing: although two of the cocoons are the usual green colour, the third is brown and black, and we wonder if this one is now dead, or has been parasitised. This particular specimen will be kept in a separate container to the other two so that we can see what the outcome is. At the Small Quarry, I hadn't expected to see much, but I found single plants of Yellow Scabious and Hoary Cinquefoil in flower, and observed a Devil's Coach-horse beetle scuttling across the rim path.
24th November 2016 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
No Small Quarry visit today ... just some record shots of the three Swallowtail butterfly young in their new outdoor hibernaculum at Mátrafüred. As can be seen, there are two green examples, and one brown.