Another rubbish day in the western fringes of the Empire, though the wind died down to Moderate strength. I'm heading back to Knepp tomorrow, where the weather's better.
Great to see a male high up over a veteran oak along the lane through Flisteridge Wood in the Forest of Braydon in NW Wilts, just before the sun was lost. This is the first record for this wood, though another was seen recently in another of the Braydon woods, Webbs Wood (where I've previously found the odd larva). It's so hard to turn up small colonies...
The big news from today is that iris has at last been found in Wyre Forest, on the Worcs-Salop border - one male, found dead in a conservatory. This is the first record from Wyre, ever. It's by no means the first record of an Emperor being found dead in a conservatory.
Doubtless some bright spark will say this was an introduction. Yesterday I received a didactic Tweet stating that all the Norfolk records result from introductions. Sorry, but I don't believe that, and would like to see the evidence... This butterfly is not that easy to breed, especially in the numbers necessary to establish a colony.
Finally, here's a photo of iris feeding on banana skins, in the ecology students' compound at Knepp. This is only the second record I know of a Purple Emperor feeding on bananas, and like the first, it's a female -
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