Day 6 at Knepp

A cloudy morning, slowly brightening and warming, with the clouds disappearing after 2pm, and with much lighter winds today.

I saw a total of 61 Emperors this afternoon, all male. That's most impressive for Day 6 here. 

Better still, I counted 22 on the Green Lane Purple Emperor Transect - that's hugely impressive for so early in the season: peak counts during the last two years have been in the low and mid- thirties. The route is about 2km long, running down a green lane lined in places by tall oaks and backed in places by huge sallow thickets. We only count Emperors, have no restrictive box, and ignore all other butterflies, and biodiversity. It takes about 2 hours.

I didn't see any more on the ground, until I nearly stepped on one at 5pm, then Neil and I nearly ran over one as we were driving out at 6.30. However, several other people saw males down on the paths, particularly on cowpats.  

Tomorrow could be Massive - we haven't had big bang yet.  

#30DaysPurple