Castor Hanglands

Following a tip-off that the weather would improve from the morning's cloud and drizzle, we decided to "hang a right" on the A47 to Castor Hanglands on the off-chance of observing some purple action. This site has a good selection of habitats and subsequently holds both grassland and woodland butterflies. A mid-morning arrival in damp conditions did not put us off as it is often the case that the insects will take full advantage of any changes in the weather for the better.

The sun broke through the cloud cover at 11.50 and within five minutes, we observed two emperors jousting at the top of a large oak at the side of the metalled track. (A clue that this area was the right place to be was the number of banana skins strewn about the track). A few minutes later, another male emperor was seen to come down from his lofty perch and conduct two circuits in a search of a particularly good sallow before zooming up and over a nearby oak. This action took place around a bend in the track and as the cloud cover once again obscured the sun, we had a good look at the sallows in the area, which all appeared to be in fine condition.

Another pleasing observation was in the number of purple hairstreaks in the oaks. These were fresh females and they came down to head height on a number of occasions throughout our five hour stay. In all we had seven sightings of His Majesty, maybe three individuals, but possibly four as what appeared to be a larger insect dived into a huge likely-looking sallow and was not seen to reappear. I would skip the banana baits in favour of some Belacan shrimp paste and perhaps some lucky person may lure HIM down on the track here, when conditions are more amenable? At no time did I get the camera out today, the binoculars allowing me to concentrate on observing purple behaviour.