Just when I thought the 2022 Knepp Purple Emperor season couldn't get any better, it does...
Yesterday, Neil photographed a pristine male Large Tortoiseshell close to one of Knepp's White-letter Hairstreak wych elms. Today, Rachel Piper spotted a female basking in a field maple close by. Here she is (the LT, not Rachel) -
Better still, I've spotted larval damage on the wych elm which almost certainly was caused by LT larvae (it's fairly distinctive). Neil agrees. Soon, I'll wade through the surrounding bramble patch and look at the feeding closely, and hopefully find the old egg cases.
Emperors were a bit suppressed by cloud at Knepp today (between noon and 4pm) but are still out in good numbers, with fresh-looking males searching the sallows for females. Here's a close encounter with Herself, looking down on us from below -
Elsewhere and generally, Emperors are out in impressive numbers, new colonies are being discovered, the weather has sorted itself out - to the woods, the lot of you!
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