Saturday, July 11, 2009

Fermyn Diaries - Day 6


We saved the best till last - lovely sunshine! Two BBC crews arrived today. Dilger et al. were there to finish 'The Emperor's Breakfast' off very nicely, with Mike getting seriously Purpled on the way out of the woods.

The BBC NHU continued filming Matthew and I in seriously competitive Emperor-baiting. Unfortunately the best action occurred before the cameras arrived. Just before 9am I had 3 different males on the deck, all of which sampled both of our delicacies, including my trusty Hau Loc belachan and Matthew's Pickled Mudfish. At one point I had one on my finger and one on my boot as I shuffled about trying to make calls on my mobile. Surprisingly, one of the males was in very good condition - no more than a couple of days old. By now the vast majority were showing serious rain-inflicted wear and tear.

In the afternoon I saw 2 big females on the tracks, both probing for moisture in the shady areas. One particularly large girl was clearly fresh out that morning, still showing that almost 'wet' lustre. As always (in my experience) the females were much harder to approach when on the ground, as they are not there to become engrossed in the pursuit of mineral salts. She evaded the shot I really wanted.

I left the woods with that 'back to skool' feeling in my stomach. As I reached the end of Cherry Lap I was treated to a last fly-past by Britain's best butterfly.

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