Fermyn Diaries - Day 6

We saved the best till last - lovely sunshine! Two BBC crews arrived today. Dilger et al. were there to finish 'The Emperor's Breakfast' off very nicely, with Mike getting seriously Purpled on the way out of the woods.

The BBC NHU continued filming Matthew and I in seriously competitive Emperor-baiting. Unfortunately the best action occurred before the cameras arrived. Just before 9am I had 3 different males on the deck, all of which sampled both of our delicacies, including my trusty Hau Loc belachan and Matthew's Pickled Mudfish. At one point I had one on my finger and one on my boot as I shuffled about trying to make calls on my mobile. Surprisingly, one of the males was in very good condition - no more than a couple of days old. By now the vast majority were showing serious rain-inflicted wear and tear.

In the afternoon I saw 2 big females on the tracks, both probing for moisture in the shady areas. One particularly large girl was clearly fresh out that morning, still showing that almost 'wet' lustre. As always (in my experience) the females were much harder to approach when on the ground, as they are not there to become engrossed in the pursuit of mineral salts. She evaded the shot I really wanted.

I left the woods with that 'back to skool' feeling in my stomach. As I reached the end of Cherry Lap I was treated to a last fly-past by Britain's best butterfly.

Fermyn Diaries - Day 5

A much better day at last, with good spells of sunshine during which iris 'made hay'. Matthew spotted that a sap bleed high up in the oaks had started to weep, bringing Emperors in from all corners of the wood. Up to 6 of them, including the odd female, jostled for position with beating wings. We saw more classical male-rejection behaviour from one girl who seemed to enjoy leading the males on. Here she is, sitting close to a group of males - all 'fur coat and no knickers'.




I managed a few more shots of Emperors on the ground, and my trousers, and my boots. More importantly, even my father managed to get some very nice images, having been desperately unlucky last year. Beds & Northants BC bods Doug Goddard and Stuart Pittman, and butterfly buddy Jack Harrison were amongst the many Purple People that turned up to join in the fun.

Fermyn Diaries - Day 4

At least we got a few brighter spells today! We started filming at a location far from the madding crowd, but iris refused to be scripted. While the crew waited for Him to arrive in the designated clearing I returned to the parking area to find the blighter sitting on sound-man Gary's car bonnet. After being shooed away he added insult to injury by sampling my Hau Loc belachan bait a few feet away. I picked Him up on my finger and walked almost all the way back to the film set before the inevitable exit occurred.

The second image shows Matthew being filmed as he breaks 6 bye laws simultaneously.

Fermyn Diaries - Day 3

Weather worse than yesterday. In a very brief period of sunshine I did see a nice female lay a couple of eggs. However, the high-point of the day was a curry with the guys from the BBC NHU in Oundle. I had to retreat to the Jalfrezi option after spending the previous evening on the Vindaloo.

Fermyn Diaries - Day 2

Poor weather kept them grounded for most of the day, although cameraman Manuel Hinge and I saw some nice male-rejection behaviour by a tumbling female. I managed to find a mud-puddler on Cherry Lap, and my parents arrived to be met by a keen hubcap licker at the car parking area.

Fermyn Diaries - Day 1

On Sunday 5 July I joined Matthew at Fermyn, where he was filming another 'Emperor's Breakfast' piece with Mike Dilger and his production team - a thoroughly nice bunch of chaps. I also met some very nice folk who were participants in a party which was madder than the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It was a great pleasure to help some of them see the Emperor for the first time. We also met Guardian journalist Patrick Barkham, who is collecting material for a book as he tours all of our resident species.

The butterflies performed better in the afternoon and I managed a few nice shots of Emperors on the ground (just click on these images to enlarge them). As is traditional now, I had them landing on various articles of my clothing, including my boots. By performing a contortion that Nadia Comaneci would have been proud of, I managed to get a shot of one sitting on my own size 10.

upper thames report 3

We thought maybe it was coming to an end but it certainly isn't; sightings not at the same level as last weekend, but still very respectable. I was wrong about that platform; we climbed it with the owner.

Lovely view of the largest Oak in this wood.

Sightings total so far for Upper Thames: 156; this is at least 50% more than ever before.