All is well

Spent the afternoon at Alice Holt and it seems that things are looking brighter. At last I have seen some Emporers that were not on territory. Although the weather was bright and sunny on the south coast as I travelled inland the cloud thickened. A quick look in Abbots wood car park revealed a male in the pines within ten seconds great result. The sun was now peaking through and it was perfect Emperor weather warm with intermittent sun - if a bit breezy. Moving on i parked up to walk through the woods and I spotted no less than nine individuals doing what they should do - oak edging and sallow searching - things are looking up, I even got bitten by a cleg - Emperor season is definitely here! I watched three males battling in Goose Green carpark but then returned to the rides. It was heartening to see better numbers of purple hairstreaks and during the afternoon I managed to watch males either searching or perched for most of the time I was there seeing the last one oak edging at five fifteen. It was also good to see that the canopy insect population seems to have bloomed. Whilst watching males perched on oak sprigs they were routinely disturbed by insects perching on their wings. Didn't manage to see any on the ground (not that I am particularly worried) but perhaos even better I did get circled by two different individuals getting great flashes of purple and views of those glaring orange eyes. No females yet but I think they will be around by the weekend. What a relief. Ps why are we surprised at 500 hits a day - its the place to be! Mark :-)