I saw 6 Purple Emperors at Knepp this afternoon. The first was this freshly emerged male, who attacked me on my bike, before settling to feed on the track for 20 minutes -
He attracted quite a crowd of admirers. Here's his underside -
Most interesting was this male, a distinctive specimen missing one wing tip. He was seen and photoed at 12.15 yesterday, near Patrick's Tree (for those who know Knepp) - Knepp's first sighting of the year. In mid-afternoon today I found him on territory up in the oaks half a mile to the west, near Green Lane Pond (ditto) having flown into the breeze -
This counts as a Mark & Recapture record! The other fragments of M&R records I have suggest that young males are highly mobile, but old males can be sedentary.
Elsewhere, first Emperors of the year seen today in Alice Holt Forest, but none today in Savernake.
We need the wind to drop...
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