A useful drop of rain here in Sussex, yesterday afternoon and again around dawn. Then a few hours of grot. Then windswept sunshine.
The first Purple Emperor of the day appeared with the first glimmer, at 11.07, around the most favoured feeder tree, 'Patrick's Tree'. Prior to then, I'd only seen singletons of Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Purple Hairstreak.
Patrick's Tree was on top form, with 2-6 Emperors and Empresses (mainly Empresses) ever present. The highlight was this near-pristine female basking low down on the main trunk -
Elsewhere, the butterfly was hard to find. I've got a strong feeling that the Purple Emperor is very much on the wane here, but I'll find out tomorrow, in better weather (too windy today), when I walk Week 4 of the Knepp PE transect (a 2 mile long single species count with a mighty big recording box, established in 2014. It's Kosher).
The Knepp season may tail off fast in the coming heatwave...
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