Back at Knepp

Only it clouded up so that few butterflies were seen after 2.30, with the Emperors very lethargic.

I suspect that the windy week we've just had either carried many of Emperors away - dispersed them - and / or shredded a lot of them in the oak canopy. Certainly, numbers seem down, but I should find out tomorrow when it's destined to be less cloudy.  

It looks as though both sexes are still emerging here, though I suspect the male emergence is just about complete, though there should be a reasonable number of females still to emerge.

Highlight of the day was a virgin female blundering past a male territory, where she immediately hoovered up a brace of sparring males, then a lone male, and shot off up into the oaks followed by a trio of amorous males. Doubtless she was wedded and bedded there, with the two unsuccessful suitors trying to muscle in...

Also, Neil spotted an photographed a freshly emerged male Large Tortoiseshell here today, close to a large wych elm which holds a decent White-letter Hairstreak colony (only the White-letters all got blasted away by the recent high winds).  

I have now seen Emperors in the wild for twenty consecutive days (including wild pupae). I'm doing 30 Days Purple...