From Peter Farrant

sun. 14 july 2013. after searching territory on friday and not seeing any Purple Emperors, i was beginning to think this territory was’nt going to be taken up this year, after dicovering it last year and seeing alot of activity. so when we arrived at 3.44pm no sign of. i scanned the tops of the hornbeams and their it was, wings shut. it soon flew out and around territory. at 3.50pm it was joined by anouther, they had a further three encounters. altogether the main male flew around its kingdom twelve times. it had four encounters with other butterflies ie. comma and red admiral, the best being two emperors one comma and red admiral all zooming in territory fast and furious. left site at 5.25pm male in hornbeam wings flat open, the rest of the afternoon it had its wing shut, this time it had settled on a leaf spray that was shaded by a leaf spray above it so affording the emperor some protection from the heat. other butterflies seen: marbled whites,white admirals,small tortoiseshells,ringlets,meadow browns,large skippers,comma and red admirals. and a nettle bed covered in Peacock larva. so good to know this is a territory used year on year.East sussex turns PURPLE.