After all the excitement of the last few days I visited a local wood to take it a bit easier, however I was soon looking for Purple Emperors, eventually finding a large female gliding over late morning in the heat of the day and a male circling some very high conifers.
I decided to head back to the car for a rest, then to decide weather to go home or have another try. You guessed it, I decided to have another try. On walking up the track again I noticed a large butterfly down on the ground, it glided along a short distance and eventually settled. It was a female Purple Emperor. Altogether it was down for 45 minutes and imbibing on the track for 30 of those minutes.
She held her wings open for around 10 minutes, still imbibing. She eventually flew off of her own accord, sailing gracefully upwards.
What a day! I thing this is the first time I have seen a female Purple Emperor down for this long ever. I have seen them down briefly in the past but never this long.
I'm off to celebrate.
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3 comments:
Michael,
can you tell us which wood and where it is please, or is it private?
dennis dell
upper thames section
Michael, a great experience! Did you get a picture for us to see? Best Wishes, Bill
Mike if you got a photo please send a copy to me to qualify for your badge.
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