NORTHANTS' PURPLE PATCH

Yesterday, 10th, while doing some general butterfly recording in Yardley Chase, I first of all came across this splendid-looking female in a grassy ride. She settled on a small piece of hazel a couple of feet above the ground and fed on honeydew for several minutes before gliding off in search of sallows further down the ride and disappearing from view. This was in Ravenstone Road Copse where the butterfly has been seen for the past three seasons.

I progressed to another section of the Chase, Olney Lane End, where I had not previously recorded iris. Another, this time more ragged, female flitted around the top of an oak before alighting to bask at the top of the tree in the sunshine.

Further along, a male flew over the top of the line of oaks which border this wood. This is the sixth section of Yardley Chase.to provide sightings this year and the total of woods for the county containing iris in 2012 currently numbers seventeen. As well as the traditional Rockingham Forest sites, the Silverstone woods and Salcey Forest, where it re-appeared last year, there have been sightings in Pipewell and Brampton woods towards Market Harborough within a mile of the Leicestershire border. Are we soon to add another county to the Purple Empire?