Sat June 29th: Purple Haze...

News from Knepp.  I thought they'd go utterly berserk today, as cloud prevented them from doing much yesterday. 

However, I think there was a mass emergence of females today, as many male territories were unoccupied during the afternoon, and many males spent much of the afternoon sallow searching (i.e. hunting for girls in the bushes...). Normally, they sallow search during the mornings, then take up territories during the afternoon - at least until all the females are wedded and bedded, then they take the mornings off. 

Here's a 3-4 day old male that came down to my mixed dung and urine bait ("They mustn't ask us...") -

Elsewhere, delighted to report that Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Norfolk have now come out and declared themselves in purpuratum for the season.   

The Knepp season remains way ahead of everywhere else...

Tomorrow: Out, the lot of you!  Enjoy...

Fri June 28th: The National Festival of Stratocumulus Cloud

Doings within the Purple Empire today were severely restricted by a near-solid blanket of Stratocumulus Cloud - I'd like to send Stratocumulus Cloud into Room 101.

At Knepp, things started well with this recently emerged male feeding for 20 mins on Lord Knows What on the end of a dead bramble stem 2m up in a hedge -

Thereafter, Emperors erupted in the oaks whenever the cloud cover relented, though the longest break lasted only 15 minutes.  

Males are still emerging there, and the bulk of the female emergence is still to come. The Emperor is rapidly approaching peak season at Knepp, though elsewhere it is still only just getting going. Do visit - for visiting details scroll back to June 18th...

The best male territories at Knepp are marked out with purple posts (we didn't have enough posts for all the territories, so some are marked with purple bunting, and other good viewing places are marked with purple ribbon). This cheeky Red Ad took a fancy to one of the purple posts -

This does look like a genuinely good Emperor year, with glowing reports of large numbers at other sites, including Theberton Woods in Suffolk. Obviously, much depends on the weather from now on.

To the woods, this weekend, the lot of you!

Thurs June 27th: Cold Front Clearing...

Limited activity throughout the Purple Empire today, as most regions were hit by a brisk Moderate to Fresh W wind that sprang up after a dissipating cold front passed (the wind hit Knepp at 3.15, and closed the day down).

Knepp's day's Highlights, where the butterfly is nearly at peak:-

* 4 seriously worked up males hotly pursuing a low-flying White Stork!

* First eggs laid (nationally, in all probability).

* First 'tumbledown' of the season (in which a mated female rejects an unwanted male). 

* A 'ball' of 4 shimmering males flying around one hapless female...

* Male taken by a Kestrel (? first record, ever?).  

* I showed PEs to a group of Naked Ramblers.  

* Males are still coming down to feed on the tracks.  

Elsewhere:-

* First PEs seen in Notts yesterday (just S of Sherwood).

* More seen in Wilts and Worcs.

* None yet in Dorset and Glos, and no records come to light yet from Leics, Lincs and Norfolk.

* The Botany Bay, Chiddingfold Forest, aberration seems to be a particularly nice ab. iolata (which is much rarer nowadays that lugenda).

Overall: this is quite a good PE year, though most sites are only just getting going on most sites (Knepp is romping ahead).  

 

Wed June 26th: Into the Oven...

Heatwave conditions over much of The Purple Empire today.

At Knepp, where the temperature reached 30C and it was almost totally calm, males were fairly quiescent - heat-suppressed - from 2pm, which is unusually early for them to conk out. Apparently, only one was recorded feeding from the ground today. They probably came out to play again from 5.30 till about 7pm, but I finished early.  

Elsewhere, news of an acute aberration (of the ab. lugenda type) has reached us, from Chiddingfold Forest yesterday. Neil Hulme went there today to try to hunt it down... The photo I saw on social media, shows just about the most extreme underside ab. specimen I've ever seen - and I've toured the museums...

This may prove to be a good year for PE aberrations? These seem to be determined by temperature-shock on newly formed pupae (according to Dr Carl Bailey who has bred them). This year, there was a series of cold nights in early June - RAF Benson in SE Oxon recorded minimums of +2C and +1C on June 2nd, 9th and 11th. Fermyn Woods, Northants, has been the place of PE aberrations this century, and may well produce a few this year...

Wiltshire has kicked off - a number of sightings, including groundings, from Bentley Wood today. That means Savernake must have started too - they're in sync.

More sightings around the Greater London area today, but I don't think He's started in Herts yet. 

No sightings yet from the northern counties - Leics, Notts and Lincs, but good to report that 3 pupae were found in an East Leics site last night by scanning for flourescing pupae with UV torches (top work!).

Note that in heatwave conditions PEs (both sexes) sit in deep shade, like this male -

 

Tues June 25th

Briefly as I'm knackered and we've got football -

Knepp: Walked the Knepp PE transect this pm, and totalled 42 including two females (both being avidly courted). That's the second highest Week 2 tally after a mind-blowing 60 in the annus mirabilis year of 2018, and beating 37 in 2023.  Three females seen, the first recorded nationally (I think).  Very few males coming down to the tracks today though, but seriously good Violence in the territories from 1pm to 4pm.  

Elsewhere: At last Alice Holt, Hants, has kicked off - late for Alice.  Importantly, Fermyn Woods and a S Northants wood started today.  Also, Threberton Woods, Suffolk; Brandon Wood, Coventry; Tiddlesley Wood, Worcs.  

Right, football...

Midsummer Day...

Surprisingly big emergence at Knepp today. This is proving to be a much better year there than I'd anticipated.  

At last Bookham Common, Leatherhead, kicks off - sightings today! Still no sightings in Alice Holt Forest, Hants, but it must be imminent there.

Fermyn Woods should start very soon, perhaps tomorrow or Wed.  

Still very little progress generally. It's just that Knepp is racing ahead...

Here's a pristine male from today, feeding on organic cow pat - 

 

Sun 23rd: Doings...

 The Purple Emperor season is starting to get going...

At Knepp, today saw the first decent emergence - after a week of ones and twos. Males have started descending to the tracks: one yesterday, three pristine males feeding on shrimp paste baits today. I only managed to see about 12 males in all, but it was too cloudy for much of the time and they were only active intermittently.  

Elsewhere, the first male was seen in Bernwood Forest, Oxon / Bucks, yesterday; one was seen in Oversley Wood, Warwicks, today; Essex kicked off today, and the butterfly has also been seen in Epping Forest. 

Still none yet in Alice Holt Forest, Hants, and no news from Bookham Common, Surrey, which is an 'early' site.  Odd. 

Sorry for lack of pics but Blogger wont let me post any...

Follow me on Twitter on @MatthewOates76 

 

To the Woods, all of you...

The weather is at last set fair, and this weekend should see Purple Emperors start to emerge in numbers down south.

To date, the butterfly has only been seen at three sites: a scatter of males at Knepp in W Sussex - but no big emergence there yet; a report of one from Chilworth just south-east of Guildford, and a male today in one of the Epping Forest territories. 

These sightings may result from a scatter of early-developing larvae that managed to pupate before the weather fell badly apart in late May - and the bulk of larvae then got stuck in the entomological equivalent of a full motorway closure.

We shall see, but great Emperor seasons erupt - and this one ain't erupting...

To the woods, the lot of you: find that Emperor... 

Emperoring at Knepp 2024

Knepp Castle Estate is looking forward to welcoming Purple Emperor visitors again this season.  In addition to running its hugely successful Purple Emperor Safaris (11^th glorious season, but now fully booked!), Knepp will be welcoming Purple visitors along a set route that runs through many of the best spots.  Viewing points will be clearly marked out, particularly for male territories (occupied in afternoons only).

 The starting point is the new car park (+ shop, café & restaurant) at Swallows Farm just off the A24 at Dial Post.   Pick up a Purple Emperor Trial leaflet from there, and follow the set route.  Note that it takes a little while to get into Emperoring country, involves a long walk and will take the best part of a day.  Cake awaits you at the end.

Places to linger are marked on the trial leaflet, and on site with purple ribbon and bunting, and hopefully with arrowed posts.  These highlight male territories, which males occupy during each afternoon of suitable weather, and sallow areas where females can be seen and where males search for females in mornings during the first half of the season.

Note that Emperors are distributed by wind, and gather out of the wind.  East-facing wood edges are good in westerly winds, and vice versa.  Never look for Emperors on the windward side, they will have drifted leeward, even if that’s the shady side!

The Purple Emperor season at Knepp began on June 17^th, and should finish around July 23^rd – depending on the weather.  The last week of June should be the best week.’

 Note also that males take the mornings off during the last third of the flight season, so don’t visit for Emperors during the mornings after July 10^th.

 Volunteer helpers will be on site to facilitate visits, and there will be a Purple Emperor Information Centre trailer parked up along Green Lane, which is where most of the best male territories are.

Looking forward to meeting you. Come for the day…

We're Off!

Welcome to the 2024 Purple Emperor season!

Two males were seen this afternoon at Knepp Wildland, W Sussex, by myself and six others. It turned out that the prediction I made on June 4th was only 26 hours out - not bad, considering how bloody awful the weather's been... This is not an easy season to predict.

My guess is that a few Sussex larvae managed to pupate in good weather around May 20th or 21st, or possibly during a spell of reasonable weather around May 24th or 25th. Then the weather got really nasty... Some of those 'early bird' larvae went on to produce adults now. 

However, the bulk of the national emergence may be some time off, and it may be that there's an unusually protracted emergence this year.

We'll see... So much in the Purple world is speculation...  I don't think most sites will start for a while yet, and it will be interesting to see when the next record comes in, and when the butterfly starts in the northern reaches of the Empire.

Sorry, I can't post a picture as the wretched thing wont let me...

PS  Four males were seen here on Tues 18th, but it was too cloudy for much of the afternoon.

PPS  I'm away from Knepp for a few days, High Browning on Exmoor...

 

 

Delayed Start...

Looks like I got that wrong... (see last post)...

A large area of low pressure is anchored over  Britain, prevented from moving away by blocking highs. Very few midsummer butterflies are going to emerge in the current temperatures, especially those that pupate in trees (as opposed to warm microclimate niches at ground level).  

The 2024 Emperor season is, in effect, suffering from the entomological equivalent of a full motorway closure...

Once the weather improves, Emperors will need two or three genuinely warm days before they start to emerge. Their season is now unlikely to start before Thurs 20th.  

However, hope springs eternal, and I will look this Sunday, the 16th, if the weather looks suitable that day...

The bad news is that the longer this poor weather lasts, and the longer the insect is trapped in the vulnerable pupal stage, the fewer Emperors will fly - due to predation of pupae by unknown predators.

Watch this space...

Predicted Start

The first Purple Emperor of 2024 will be seen on June 16th, probably in the early afternoon.  

That will be in the Sussex - Surrey - South London region, where the season commences earlier (or NW Kent, if anyone looks there).  In other regions, the butterfly wont start much before June 23rd.  

Please note that I once got one of these annual predictions spot on!!!

Peak season period will encompass the last five or six days of June and the first week of July.  

Do not bother looking after July 23rd, except in the northern reaches of the Empire and at known late-flying sites.

Adult numbers could be high, given that winter survival rates were relatively good and, crucially, that the weather during the bulk of the pupal period looks to be set fair - but much depends on flight season weather.   

Watch this space...  

Contact me if you want to join the PE WhatsApp group, of avid Emperor watchers and studiers (though please note that it is not a photographers group, though many of us also take photos): matthew@matthew-oates.co.uk