On monday 23rd , after getting some info from Matthew Oates & Neil freeman on where to look , i drove 166 miles down from cheshire to Fermyn wood to see the Emperors! loads of cars there when i arrived at 9.40 ish. walking down the first track, matthew drove past,said hello and then carried on driving! (thanks for the lift matthew! lol ) just after entering Lady wood, his car was stopped under a tree! with an Empress ab.semi iole perching above :) so my first Emperor of the year didnt take long to see:) leaving Matthew i walked down the main paths around lady & souther wood, finding grounded male Emperors everywhere! by the time i had walked round the main track my total was up to 20 males , i was amazed to see so many, seeing up to 4 at once at one point! the colour of these newly emerged specimens was superb!
i also found a grounded purple hairstreak which posed for a few phots :) arriving back on the main track to meet Matthew , by this time ,about 1 pm most people had already gone? stange! Matthew then showed me all the areas where the males hang out! , we saw plenty more,i then witnessed the so called "incident" when Matthew almost trod on "HER HIGHNESS " when she was drinking from a muddy puddle, i have been sworn to secrecy on what words rang out at that point!, but he later said ," thank god it wasnt a sunday! lol " after watching a pair of males fighting we walked along the track between Lady & Souther wood where we found 2 very playfull males,the first of which perched on my finger!
The second one , after perching on my shoulder ,& then on a passing cyclists shoulder and nose! ( so funny! ) he flew around me a dozen times, the sound from the wings clipping was amazing! Eventually the image everyone wants to see, Emperor perching on mr Oates hat! i have closed wing shots also :))
after saying goodbye to Matthew, another 3 males flew past me just walking back towards the car!
my final total of probably the best flutter day i have had this year , was 3 females and 38 males. about 24 -26 of which were grounded , along with maybe 8-10 white admirals.
the alure of the Emperor grows inside me :)
1 comment:
Please note that Oates's hat is decorated with a scarfe of myriad purple hues during the season, which is impregnated with Thai fish source. You know it makes sense.
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