Day 5 at Knepp

The morning was cloudy, with a patch of drizzle. I checked out my wild pupae, one of which is starting to show through -

The skies brightened slowly from 12.30, into a very sunny afternoon, though the wind picked up from about 3.30.  

I counted 30 Emperors at Knepp, from 1pm, or rather, 29 Emperors and one Empress, who was contemplating witchcraft in a field maple -

Great to see a pristine male down on an equally pristine and wholly organic cow pat (I'm sure they don't favour inorganic cow pats) -

Meanwhile, Neil Hulme was away photographing an effete blue moth at Daneway Banks in the Cotswolds. He missed out on this -

which went of for 45 minutes. Then one flew off to attack traffic in the nearby lane whilst the other stayed a while longer -

Whatever mistakes you make in life don't trollop about looking for effete blue moths during the Emperor season...

Oddly, the Emperors stopped flying around 4.30, in full sun. Maybe it had become too windy.

#30DaysPurple