From Richard Jones:
I found a butterfly on our farm that I had never seen before in my life which we duly identified we believe as a Purple emperor, picture attached.
I see they are pretty rare especially where we are in Gloucestershire so I wanted to report to someone who would care about these things.
I found a butterfly on our farm that I had never seen before in my life which we duly identified we believe as a Purple emperor, picture attached.
I see they are pretty rare especially where we are in Gloucestershire so I wanted to report to someone who would care about these things.
2 comments:
Excellent! Where in Gloucestershire???? There have been a few reports from the extreme east of the county in recent years...
I've had another look at this specimen, which was photographed just to the SE of Cheltenham and the E of Gloucester.
I wonder whether it's emanated from a wedding release? Its poise is odd... It's not happy and doesn't look British.
There's a company on the New Forest coast which sells bred butterflies for release at events, including Monarchs and Purple Emperors. Last Sept the NT recorded a Monarch sitting on top of the statue of Urania at Stourhead, Wilts; and in July 2014 the NT ranger at Minnowburn, a valley on the western fringes of Belfast, recorded a male Emperor on transect - it had come from a wedding the previous day.
Needless to say, I have recommended that the NT no longer permits the release of butterflies at events on its land, other than ubiquitous species (Cabbage Whites, Painted Lady etc). I'm not happy about the Emperor being used as live confetti...
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