Weather was far from ideal raining heavily this morning gradually lifted by midday. Headed into Fermyn along the ride from opposite the gliding club. Nothing seen for a further hour so headed into Lady and Souther Woods. Started to see more people then came across 3 people one whom had been watching Purple Emperors for the last hour. One Purple Emperor in particular was very obliging for over an hour on the ground,wings both open and closed whilst grounded plus perched in low branches of surrounding trees. A very photogenic individual.
There was a second one occasionally gliding past but did not land. Walked further south to clearing with a log pile on the left hand side of the ride. I was now beginning to get quite warm a Purple Emperor was obviously taken with my sweaty soaked trousers as it perched on my left leg for 5 mins or so.
Continued further south and saw one perched in a conifer where it basked in the sun for a while before disappearing up into the trees.
Met a few more people on the walk but many said they had not seen the PE grounded. by 4:30 had not seen any for a while so started heading back to my car. Returned to the log pile where a Grass Snake had been observed basking in the late afternoon sun and was still visible poking its head out from between the logs. The snake was later watched slithering into the undergrowth. Last Purple Emperor sighting of the day was 200 m from car on cross with last ride and main track when the sky was dark and strong winds it was a great surprise to see a Purple Emperor, how stubborn these beautiful creatures are to be out in that type of weather. I counted 6 Emperors today on my travels around Fermyn, Lady and Souther Woods a great day with lots of viewing time.
There was a second one occasionally gliding past but did not land. Walked further south to clearing with a log pile on the left hand side of the ride. I was now beginning to get quite warm a Purple Emperor was obviously taken with my sweaty soaked trousers as it perched on my left leg for 5 mins or so.
Continued further south and saw one perched in a conifer where it basked in the sun for a while before disappearing up into the trees.
Met a few more people on the walk but many said they had not seen the PE grounded. by 4:30 had not seen any for a while so started heading back to my car. Returned to the log pile where a Grass Snake had been observed basking in the late afternoon sun and was still visible poking its head out from between the logs. The snake was later watched slithering into the undergrowth. Last Purple Emperor sighting of the day was 200 m from car on cross with last ride and main track when the sky was dark and strong winds it was a great surprise to see a Purple Emperor, how stubborn these beautiful creatures are to be out in that type of weather. I counted 6 Emperors today on my travels around Fermyn, Lady and Souther Woods a great day with lots of viewing time.
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