First Female at Fermyn

Paid another visit to the Fermyn Woods Complex on Friday 26th June 2020, this time with my son. We made an early start, getting to the wood at 08:20. It wasn't long before we were delighted to see a grounded male Purple Emperor in Cherry Lap at 08:46, which was surprising because this wood has fallen out of favour with the Purple Emperor since the ride widening project started. Alas, the butterfly didn't hang around for a long and soon took off, heading for the tree-tops. We saw no further Emperors in this wood.


We traversed the field and entered into Lady Wood /Souther Wood. Here Purple Emperors were more numerous, with 24 males seen over an 8-hour period. Out of this number, 13 individuals had grounded, many of which offered great photographic opportunities to the relatively few people who ventured out into these woods; perhaps many were put off by the forecast of thunderstorms?

Male Purple Emperor on Hazel

Male Purple Emperor on a conifer sap run

Grounded male Purple Emperor

However, it was a sighting of a female Purple Emperor by my son, resting low down on a Stinging Nettle, that really piqued our interest. Shortly after, we were joined by John Wiltshire and, between the three of us, had further sightings of 6 female Purple Emperors over the course of the day. It seemed all the more unusual because 4 of these individuals had grounded on the track.

Grounded female Purple Emperor (Underside)

Grounded female Purple Emperor (Upperside)

To see this many females so early on in the flight period, and to see so many down on the track, is truly uncharacteristic. What on earth is going on this year? :)