The Purple Empire: A long wait at Alice Holt

Having made two unsuccessful visits searching for Purple Emperors to Bentley Wood, I thought I would give Alice Holt a go today. Starting off in Straits where I met Mark Tutton who had also not seen any this year either. We spent a whole morning searching Straits without any luck, but we did see an obliterae White Admiral. Moving over to Abbott's Wood the sun appeared and suddenly a Purple Emperor sailed around a tall sallow at 13.37 eventually moving off well away. Later I visited Goose Green and it didn't let me down. Again when the sun came out, the action happened. Two sparring males kept me amused up until 16.45, perching in the open and performing a great display overhead. Mark eventually found a male at Abbott's after I left. The day turned out better than expected, but numbers do seem woefully low so far.