Sat 20th: a little too cloudy at times. Savernake had a welcoming party out for me, in the form of a large (Emperors are unusually large in Sav) male flying down Grand Avenue towards me as I drove in from the Burbage end (stop, switch off and Squirt Windscreen - but he hurried on by...).
Then a magic 40 minutes with this pristine male, who was struggling to find anything to feed on -
Eventually he found a squashed fox scat (identifiable by smell and the presence of Woodland Door Beetle wing cases!) -
A search of the Three Oak Hills Drive male territories, in imperfect weather, produced lone males in three of the primary territories (and, as usual, none at The Column, where everyone goes, which is a secondary territory).
Incidentally, PE started in Savernake on Friday 19th, when the last of the followed larvae there pupated. PE also started in Bentley Woods, S Wilts, then.
Sun June 21st. Not many people out Emperoring today, deterred by the heat. Today, the Emperor started in Glos, with 2-3 males active at Sapperton Broad Ride (Mick Peacey's been checking daily, so this is Day 1). Here's one up on a favoured lime tree -
In the coming heatwave, males will be looking for food on the rides in early to mid-morning, and thereafter intermittently throughout the day. The rides are, though, very dry. Dog mess (commonest near to parking areas) will be favoured.
Males will be active on territory from about 12.30 to 2.30-ish, but may then conk out for a siesta, before having an evening flight from 5.30 to about 7.30. The evening flight is terrific.
Both sexes will readily visit oak sap runs, but these are hard to find (watch for hornets and Red Ads), and flow intermittently. Here's a cracker of a sap run on the Bumble Oak, a named veteran oak close to the FC loos at Postern Hill in Savernake. Note the white bits - that's what the Emperors favour -
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