At Knepp, the wind made Emperoring difficult today, though it was stronger yesterday. Many male territories were unoccupied due to wind.
I saw three females, two were being courted (I was very disappointed not to witness a pairing, but on the first occasion the wind carried them off and on the second occasion she lef him on a merry dance, out of sight, in order to get out of the wind). The other female was mated - she got flushed out of a sallow top by a male and did a tumbledown rejection flight, and had bits of her hind wings missing.
If there isn't a massive hatch and a great show here tomorrow I'll panic- and pulp all 5000 copies of my book...
Elsewhere, the first of the year was seen in Fermyn Woods today; there were some good sightings in Alice Holt Forest; there's been a nice scatter of sightings along the M25 corridor (north and south sectors); Suffolk has kicked off, but none seen yet in Wiltshire (including Bentley Wood today).
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