Back at Knepp again. Started the PE transect, a 2km route, at 12.30: immediately the wind sprang up, and soon reached Fresh strength, and then it became too cloudy. Rip-off Britain! I still counted 56, the 4th highest count in 12 years of diligent recording (we wont use today's data, too weather-damaged).
I saw well over a hundred individuals today, including 3 males down on the ground, feeding, and six females. However, many males are now looking decidedly worn and ragged, like this (today's pics) -
and this feeding male (today). He's probably much younger than he looks, as older males do not feed on the ground -
Even this female was looking slightly past her best -
This is because they are suffering wind damage up in the oak sprays.
My guess is that the male emergence at Knepp is almost complete, bar a few latecomers who fed on late-leafing sallows; though there must still be a large number of females to emerge.
When the wind drops, Knepp is going to erupt...
Many thanks to Alex Potts for sending in this lovely photo of a male drinking at a pond somewhere near Alice Holt Forest. I think it's PE photo of the year -
As an indication of just how 'early' a season this is, Brown Hairstreak was seen in Surrey today (and I saw a 2nd brood Brown Argus yesterday in Gloucestershire). As an astounded Fred Trueman used to say on Test Match Special, "I doan't know what's going off out there anymore...".
No comments:
Post a Comment