My First Egg At Fermyn

With good weather forecast for Tuesday i got in the car and was soon hurtling up the A43 .On arrival the weather was good and the car park bulging but stinking of fishy baits as were the rides . By 2pm i had clocked up 16 Emperors of which 2 were on the ground . Most of the males  are now showing their age , being in varying stages of wear and tear .Cloud rolled in finishing activity so i called it a day until 4pm when it then cleared . On returning i was treated to a fantastic evening display of males and females flying around the canopies purely for fun as there was no territorial or mating behaviour evident . Leaving at 6pm i had managed a total of 40 sightings for the day . I happened to notice a sallow near the car park which seems to have suffered a lightening strike as was leaning across the ride with its trunk apparently exploded ( see pic ) . I returned today to find activity very slow until 11pm . No groundings at all today despite another circuit of the woods but another 25 sightings with several females clearly looking to lay eggs . As i was walking out of Lady Wood a female swooped and flew into the sallow behind me and started to drop eggs deep in the bush . She finally emerged and dropped her last egg at head height right in front of me then shot off . A total of 65 sightings over 2 days but the groundings are few and far between now . A supporting cast of SW Frits and White Admirals still in decent numbers . Farewell Fermyn till next year .

 The purple on this male hardly showed at all despite taking various shots at different angles .

 The best of the rest .

 Sallow near car park apparently struck by lightening .

Freshly layed egg yet to develop the dark zone at its base .