Today is my birthday, and also that of Emma Grundy in Radio 4's The Archers. I am seven. I set off somewhat speculatively for Savernake in indifferent weather, but arrived there in sunshine and managed to see two Emperors smashing things up before the sun went, and Stygian gloom descended, and deepened.
It got so dull that at 3pm a bat started batting about, a Noctule I think, high up in the best of the known Savernake territories, the Dead Beech Glade. Of course, a hidden Emperor went for it - I had no idea that there was a male there.
I don't know of any other records of Apatura iris pursuing a bat, but all things are possible with this the best of all possible butterflies...
This may well be an excellent way for the 2024 season to finish, though I suspect there's a few days left at Savernake.
Emperors have the habit of doing something particularly ridiculous at precisely 3pm (at Knepp you can set your clock by it). This habit has given rise to the term, 'the 3 O'clock Emperor'...
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