Fri July 26th: Closing Time...

Five rather ancient males active in the favoured territories in Savernake Forest today, notably this fellow who was in the same spot back on July 17th & 18th. He's Pecked Hind Right, though the distinct peck mark isn't visible in this photo. This counts as a 'recapture', in mark, release, recapture work - though I've no idea how old he was on the 17th. He's at least ten days old, probably >14. 

Given that two of today's males were in reasonable condition and the weather has turned fair, I might just get an August 1st Emperor out of Savernake this year...

Elsewhere, a females was seen today in Collingbourne Woods which are about three miles south of Savernake, and a male was seen today in Waterperry Wood, part of Bernwood Forest, Oxon.  

Very soon, someone will record the last Purple Emperor of 2024...

Sun July 21st: Close of Play at Knepp

Walking the Purple Emperor transect at Knepp, for the last time this year. I counted five ancient males. This chap shouldn't have been able to fly, as two-thirds of one wing side were missing, and one third of the other - 

Yet he managed to hold territory and pulverise a Purple Hairstreak. Attitude counts!

Provisional data suggests that this became an 'average' year at Knepp - but after great early season promise, with a near-record count for Week 2 of the season (in fine weather around Midsummer Day). Then, they got clobbered by a sequence of bad weather events.

We've been monitoring Emperors along a 2km single-species transect route at Knepp for nine years. 2024 was definitely better than 2016, 2019 and 2021, but had the fine weather held it might have been as good as 2023 (our second-best year, after the annus mirabilis of 2018). 

Another bout of rain is forecast for Thursday. That will almost certainly end Knepp's season for the year...

Elsewhere, a few Emperors are still going in the more northern parts of the Empire, and at other 'late' sites such as Savernake. The race is on for the last Emperor of the year, though I doubt that will be in August.  

Early signs are that the 'egg lay' is very poor, but more of than anon... 

Sherwood (2)

 A couple of females on Friday 

Tidying up the Blog

 As blog administrator, there's a bit of overdue tidying up which I need to do. 

We currently have over eighty registered authors, of whom, in all honesty, only about half a dozen are active. 

So, once the iris flight season is well and truly over, I'll run a purge of anyone who hasn't posted in the last couple of years. 

If you'd rather you were left on and haven't posted in that time, either post in the next few weeks, or send me an email to let me know you want to stay on board. 

There'll be no change if you want to read the blog, just if you want to post. 

Unfortunately, this year I missed the flight season in the UK due to commitments elsewhere.  

I did, however, manage a quick visit to the Balkans in June, where both ilia and metis seemed more common than iris this year. 

Fortunately I managed to have the camera ready when this briefly popped up.

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Going Over Fast...

It looks as though our beloved Emperors are going over fast in central southern and south-east England, and may be virtually over in places like Alice Holt Forest, E Hants (especially the males).

Too many adverse weather events... 

They seem to be lingering better in the northern fringes of the Empire - e.g. some good sightings in Heart of England Forest, Warwicks, on July 17th.

I've just spent two days in Savernake Forest, N Wilts, which is normally considered a 'late' site, often producing early August sightings and even the last national sighting of the year. There, I struggled to see five males in a thorough search of the main territories along Three Oak Hills Drive today, though two of them were in quite good condition (NB I saw none at The Column, where everyone goes, but which is only a secondary territory).

I dread to think how bad the 'egg lay' is. Larvae are going to be very hard to find this autumn...

Here's Himself on territory in Savernake's 'Dead Beech Glade' territory today - 

 

Derbyshire Comes Out!

Congrats to Derbyshire for coming out and declaring itself Purple! The correct, Heslopian terminology would, of course, be declaring itself in purpuratum...

A 2-4 day old male was photographed feeding on a driveway in the village of Bretby on July 8th, and reported to Ken Orpe of BC E Mids. Here he is, photo by Sarah Simpkins -

Bretby is to the east of Burton on Trent and is close to the parts of the National Forest that look eminently Purple (the area around Foremark Reservoir and Ticknall looks highly suitable, with sizeable sallow jungles).   

Welcome to the fold, Derbyshire!  

BC E Mids has been running a Sallows for the Purple Emperor project, joint with S Derbys District Council and others.  To date, 600 sallow whips have been planted at over 35 sites, mainly in the south of the county. 

Come on Herefordshire, Devon, Somerset, Shropshire, and others!!! In Purpuratum Docens Mortior...

St Swithin...

At Knepp, the Emperor season is fast fading. I struggled to see six on Sat 13th, before heading home for a while. Neil also struggled to see six at Knepp on Sun 14th, in perfect weather. 

Many territories are now unoccupied there. Males have now stopped sallow searching and are inactive before noon. Surprisingly few females have been seen, and I'm wondering whether many emerged during bad weather and quickly perished... The egg lay isn't going to be high. The Knepp season will be over by July 21st-23rd. 

Here's a female from last Saturday at Knepp, behaving just like a male - it is female, she laid an egg 20 minutes before this photo was taken:

And here's a male, doing likewise -

Elsewhere, I'm beginning to breathe sighs of relief that south Gloucestershire, where I live, is still Purple. The region was only recently colonised (perhaps in the 2018 annus mirabilis) and was clobbered by a severe outbreak of Willow Rust last Aug and Sept - most of the broad-leaved sallows that dominate the district dropped most of their leaves. The good news is that Glos is still purple. Here's a photo (not mine) of one feeding on owl pellets (!!!) in a barn near Cheltenham on July 11th - 

Great to hear of a sighting at Saltwells NNR just SW of Dudley in the West Midlands (W of Brum).  

Generally, numbers do not seem great, but that may simply be due to poor flight season weather - this is an old-fashioned July. 

Today is St Swithun / Swithin's Day, and it's rained most of the day. Last year, we had a fully-fledged gale on St Swithin / -un. Personally, I think St Swithun/-in should be defrocked...

Four of five reasonable days are forecast. My guess is that they will reveal Emperors and Empresses in reasonable numbers in the later-emerging localities...