Pretty dire weather in The Empire today, especially in the south-eastern part, but the wind wasn't as strong as feared, so it's unlikely that any significant damage was done (especially as most of the 2021 Emperors are still pupae).
Pleased to see the first Savernake Emperor of the year, before showers curtailed the visit. I'd called in, on route back to Knepp, to look for the pupa of my last larva there, a female - found the witch 4m up, through binoculars. So Wiltshire is now purple for the season.
The only other records I've received from today are of four males seen in Fermyn Woods, in fairly poor weather.
There's been a major breakthrough in finding Purple Emperor pupae this summer. The revelation that the pupae flouresce under UV light has prompted several of us to splash out on expensive UV torches (from Amazon USA) and scan for pupae in the dark. They show up strongly under UV light. Inspired, some of us have successfully found pupae by day too. A good dozen wild pupae are currently under observation, in W Sussex, Sherwood Forest and Lincs. Congrats to all those who've found them - ground-breaking stuff (and not in my book).
There should be a reasonable emergence tomorrow, weather permitting...
3 comments:
Glad to see that using UV torches for spotting pupae (and larvae) has got around. I reported this to butterfly conservation some years ago but they never got back to me. davidj
Can you recommend a good UV torch please?
Dallan, I used the Mastiff B2 3 Watt 405nm Ultraviolet Radiation LED Blacklight Uv Lamp Flashlight Torch for my initial (indoor) trials. This is bright, but my tests were indoors. This is available from Amazon, but be aware that it uses specific, non-standard (18650) batteries: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JCJ9PSS/?coliid=I1Q9CV5UE5XN9H&colid=1LENV2T90ISWD&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
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