Further Female Flutterings fom Fermyn - Monday 6th July 2020

Despite the poor weather forecast, decided to spend another day at Fermyn. Due to large amounts of traffic on the journey there, I didn't get there as early as I'd hoped and it was almost 9 o'clock before I arrived. Thick cloud meant little was flying, which meant a lacklustre walk over to Lady Wood and then round into Souther Wood. On arrival at the Cypress trees, three people had already located a male Purple Emperor, which was roosting about 8 foot up. The condition of this male was poor and, as I tried to get a quick record shot, I heard someone remark that "it hasn't got a good side!" For most of the morning the thick cloud prevailed, but occasional bright intervals caused brief spells of butterfly activity; the net result of this was that I had 4 male Purple Emperor sightings, most over the top of the oaks, but one did come down to the delight of the crowd that had built up.

        Crowds defying the poor weather forecast!

The afternoon started off in a similar vein, so I decided to walk 'the loop'. At around 13:30, the cloud dispersed, and then gave almost 2 hours of unbroken sunshine. It was during this spell that I spotted a female Purple Emperor gliding effortlessly along the ride at chest height, hardly flapping, almost floating on the air, and when she did flap her wings slowly it produced a soft, papery flight reminiscent of tropical Tree Nymphs. She landed briefly on a Hazel leaf before sailing off down the ride again, but this time landing down on the track.

As I completed 'the loop', I found another female Purple Emperor, which landed low down on a Bramble leaf. Here she probed away with her proboscis, allowing a close inspection.