Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Another visit to Fermyn - Sunday 7th July



The allure of Fermyn proved to much again and I visited again on Sunday (7th July). If I could have ordered the weather for Sunday it would have been similar to that which was forecast: it had rained the day before, meaning there would be plenty of moisture down in the track, and a balanced mixture of sun and cloud would hopefully mean that butterflies would not spend much of the day roosting up.



On arrival at the woods, just before 08:00, there seemed to be a little more cloud than I had hoped, but nevertheless it was fairly bright. A cool East North East wind was blowing, but it was light at around 5 mph and the temperature was 15 degrees Centigrade. I set off in anticipation of good Emperor numbers following the 23 I had recorded on Friday, expecting to see at least this number, if not more.



A slow walk through Cherry Lap produced nothing on the Emperor front. I was well into the Lady/Souther Wood complex, having turned right at the first fork, before I thought I had a glimpse of a Purple Emperor disappearing over the top of a pine tree at 09:05, but couldn't be 100% certain, so couldn't count it. My first, definite Purple Emperor sighting was at 09:20, a male gracefully gliding over the oaks, just past the large Cypress conifers. This was shortly followed by another at 09:26, a male down on the track this time; it was in pristine condition and I would suggest it was less than a day old. Off to a good start, but it was exactly another hour before the next sighting a bit further along the ride. This individual flew along the ride and landed in almost the precise position that the previous one had vacated, but this was a different individual with a slight nick out of the tornus of its right-hand forewing. Otherwise, it was in good condition with very little rubbing. A similar thing happened with a third male landing in the same area, this one with the tiniest segment missing from the margin of its right-hand hindwing. And again, it was very fresh apart from this.



Whilst I was getting a few sightings and had been lucky to see 3 down on the ground, there just wasn't the aerial activity that I had expected, especially considering the fact that conditions seemed to be good. And by the time I had walked all of the way back through Cherry Lap Wood to the car for lunch, I had only seen 9 individuals. The last of these was a male down on the track in Cherry Lap Wood at 12:24 and would prove to be the only Purple Emperor sighting that I was to have in this wood all day!


After lunch I made my way back to the Lady/Souther Wood complex, but visited different areas from the morning. Only 2 further Emperor sightings were recorded, the first of which wasn't until 16:01!

In summary, low numbers, but incredibly fresh.


Final Score:


Cherry Lap

1 male Purple Emperor


Lady/Souther Wood

10 male Purple Emperors


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