A red letter day for Middleton and Goodyear in Middlesex/London!

Whilst everyone else is recording large numbers of Purple Emperors we are content with more simple things, just say one or two butterflies. Today it was TWO, but more importantly was where....................about 7.5km from the centre of London at Hampstead Heath. We had been alerted to a report in 2012 from nearby Kenwood but hadn't had the opportunity to visit in what we would say were optimum conditions. We spent two hours sitting by the Spaniards Road, whilst nearby roadworks caused massive queues of traffic passing by watching for an emperor to cross the road...... but at 14:35 after walking onto the heath and then back into the woodland by the road and close to the radio mast we saw two emperors - two chases and regular flights from two individuals in two nearby locations over a period of 1 1/2 hours. One of those special days for us!