IRIS STOPS FOR TEA

Gentlemen, Lady
I've just found a 3rd instar iris larva at the Clacket Lane service station on the southern M25 east bound / N side - which is set in ancient woodland. Usual tree - female caprea + matt soft mid green leaves. V pleased with myselves.... This is on the Surrey / Kent border.
Matthew

His Majesty

Hi Everyone, I'm in and an avid Majesty follower.Living close to Fermyn for the last thirty years has been great and it has been interesting to watch the complex grow in statur. As I said previously this year " his majesty" took salt from my leg (photo on my website martinizzardphotographic). You could say I have been touched by "his majesty"

The Bigger Picture

I'm intending to collate everyone's inputs into both the blog and the website, so that you can all have access to the reports in one document, as per last year's "One Purple Year".

SO - as the season draws to a close, could I ask that you post your reports and pictures, so that others may share. Add the date, if the material isn't current, and I'll sort everything into correct chronology.

If you haven't read last years' report, you can download it
here:

http://www.thepurpleempire.com/Images/Onepurplesummer.pdf

Derek

Fluttering Fermyn Fermale

WEDNESDAY 29TH JULY: Back in Fermyn Woods, where the odd Emperor remains. I saw one, sex uncertain, and also found a freshly laid egg. Eggs and larvae are incredibly hard to find here. There are millions of sallows, and it may be that the females lay the odd egg hither and thither, mostly thither.

There are few true Salix caprea trees here. Most of the numerous broader leaved sallows here seem to be hybrids between caprea and cinerea, and I don't think Iris particularly favours these hybrids. The taxonomy of the narrow leaved sallows here is complicated, and I can't make any sense out of it (using the BSBI Handbook for the Identification of willows and poplars). But, I've only seen one female visit a narrow leaved sallow here, high up -which means I don't know whether she laid or not - so I don't know the extent to which they use these narrow leaved sallows either.

In effect, I'm floundering - but the ratio of iris adults to the abundance of sallows must be far lower here than in the other sites I've worked, a curious thought.

The plot thickens....

Matthew

Larvae left in situ

Back in Alice Holt for the day. The season is winding down here. One freshly laid egg (blue-green) was the nearest I got to Herself, then 2 males at each of the 2 main assembly points; 3 were predictably old, worn and torn but one was in quite good nick - nice and black-looking - and cannot have been more than 4-5 days old. Looks like one or two males and a few skulky females will make it into August here.

Now the egg lay here looks to have been quite good. I also found 3 1st instar larvae, 2 of which were on the same branch and can be monitored easily (I've never had one last longer than Xmas). 2 of the 3 were skin-changing. But I also found 2 egg bases and no sign of the resultant larvae. I left the lot in situ.

Matthew

Wilts worn but not wasted

Back Emperoring again after an involuntary break. Despite recent foul and abusive weather Iris is still flying quite nicely in Savernake Forest, N Wilts. A thorough tour produced a tally of 8 males in 5 of the 8 territories I've found along the straight ridge crest ride leading to The Column. This compares to a peak count of 17. Three of these territories held pairs of squabbling males - one pair of which were very active, regularly clashing and chasing. Some males looked very worn, and two had lost much of their hindwings.

Two females were seen, egg-laying high in tall sallows. One was very worn and faded, the other in reasonable condition.

The Savernake Iris seem to have an unusually long flight season, and specialise in lingering on after other sites have apparently finished. It seems to be a 'late' sight.

Message: this season hasn't finished yet.....

Matthew

Last Of The Best?

It was with a little sadness that I descended Graffham Down on Saturday afternoon (25 July), having led a very enjoyable walk for Butterfly Conservation. In beautiful surroundings and under blue skies, we had watched a faded but still regal Emperor patrolling his now lonely territory - surely the last I will see of Him this year. I consoled myself with thoughts of betulae to come, but when the last iris has been seen the year is in decline.