Thurs July 4th: Vote Purple!

 General election day, with the Purple Emperor butterfly poised to take over running the country... I can think of nothing less suitable to run the country...

Rather too windy today, especially for territorial activity.  

I arrived in Savernake just in time to see a male hanging from his pupal case. This was 'Scar', who was found as a third instar larva last autumn and was followed all the way through. He hibernated in this scar, hence the name -

He greened up early, in late winter, and began feeding at the end of March, but then developed slowly as he was on the north-facing side of the sallow. He travelled just 3m to pupate.  Here's his pupal case -

Unfortunately, a gust of wind dislodged him, so he landed on this mossy trunk -

Eventually this happened - 

He was last seen beating up a Purple Hairstreak high up in the treetops.

PE is probably just getting going properly in Savernake, but it was hard to judge from such a windy day.

Elsewhere, more excellence in Abbots Wood Inclosure, Alice Holt Forest, Hampshire.

Wed July 3rd: Cloud & Drizzle

Very little play today, anywhere.  Knepp had just a few short bright spells; Gloucestershire had drizzle all morning, then windblown cloud - before it cleared in the evening...

But sunny spells and bright cloud in East Hampshire brought sallow-searching males out in excellent numbers in the southern part of Alice Holt Forest, with six being seen in a vista and a total of 20 apparent individuals in 20 minutes (per Ashley Whitlock, BC Hants). This is the most seen in a vista and a short time in Alice since the 2009-10 era in Straits Inclosure (then the FC felled most of the ride-side sallows...).

Tomorrow is forecast to be bright and breezy. The Emperors may be seeking to make up for lost time...

Vote Purple early, then go Emperoring...

 

Tues July 2nd: Plagued by Cloud, and Willow Rust

Doings within the Purple Empire were thwarted by mindless cloud today. However -

At Knepp: Males are still emerging (just) and coming down to the tracks to feed (just).

In Alice Holt: Congrats to Mark Tutton for filming a male sallow searching for female pupae. We see quite a bit of this at Knepp - the males don't just search for emerged females, but suss out female pupae too...  

I was on light duties (park & view) locally in Gloucestershire today. It's early days there still, but my fears that last year's severe outbreak of Melampsora Willow Rust has knocked the butterfly right back are starting to be realised. 

Willow Rust particularly afflicts broad-leaved sallows, and is rampant again this summer, seemingly everywhere. At Knepp, the females can lay on the abundant narrow-leaved sallows instead, but in the Stroud to Cirencester area 90% of the sallows are broad-leaved, narrow-leaveds are rare. This time last year they looked like this -  

No female with any sense is going to lay on that!  

More predation observed today in Alice Holt, presumably by thuggish Hobbies - bits of a male found on the ride...

Oates Crashes Out, and the Weather too...

Apols for the lack of postings, but I've had to retreat home, suffering from a severe attack of osteoarthritis of the knee (medical term for something crippling) - at the zenith of a surprisingly good Purple Emperor season.  Can hardly stand, let alone walk - though I can cycle almost ad lib (non weight-bearing): I've done most of the Knepp Emperor season on my trusty ebike.

I'll be back in the saddle ASAP - as soon as NSAID (pills) and gym work (the real answer) kick in. The annoying thing is that I'd got the condition so well under control that I'd got off the NHS operation waiting list and was looking forward to my 20th Mountain Ringlet expedition - then caught a nasty virus (almost certainly in the gym), with arthritis kicking in afterwards, in my 'good' knee...

Worse, the jet stream has jumped south, and the weather has deteriorated...

At Knepp on Sun June 30th: Emperor males were sallow searching frenetically, in numbers, indicating a big emergence of females. Here's Herself drying her wings, having crawled off her pupal case -

She may not get mated until the following day.  

Also, importantly, the oaks are starting to produce the tiny sap bubbles that Emperors love above all other substances (sugar-rich, and probably fermenting). Here's a male feeding on one tiny bleed last Sunday (on Patrick's Tree, for those who know Knepp) -

Once the females are all out and mated, the males will cease to come down to the feed on the tracks at Knepp. A shame, as experiences like this will cease for the year (Neil Hulme, in paradise 24/6/24) -

Emperorial behaviour will worsen as the sugars and alcohol from the oak sap kick in...

Elsewhere, congrats to Mark Tutton for observing Apatura iris in cop in Abbots Wood Inclosure, Alice Holt Forest, yesterday, July 1st. The male found the female over a sallow jungle, by 'sallow searching'; she led him up into the top of a nearby 80' tall oak, and they joined at 1.45pm. Then - wait for it - they mated for over five hours, establishing a new mating duration record!!!  Gentlemen of England, we are outdone - by an insect...  

Also, we have to report two Hobby attacks. At 11.35 on Sun 30th, a fascist Hobby viciously turned on an innocent Emperor who had done the decent thing, and had flown out of the Knepp oak canopy to intercept the intruder - fragments of purple wings gently fluttered down. Then, yesterday, July 1st, the same thing was observed at Bookham's famous Hill Farm Territory by Rob Hill. 

One is armed only with a dazzling iridescence, faultless bravado, and an ego the size of the universe, the other is a vicious predator of insects.  As Filch so aptly puts it in Harry Potter: 'I want to see some punishment...'