Western Switzerland, Jura foothills

From Ashley Whitlock

Today I saw (19) Purple Emperors in Alice Holt Forest which is my second best record. Not bad for a poor year! In Straits Inclosure I saw (3) Two were in the area of the lookout tower of which one was imbibing on the sap of the wood, where it stayed for up to 30 odd minutes. Another was oak edging down the ride. In Abbotts Wood Inclosure there was two sat in the same Oak tree barely a metre apart looking down at me, contemplating on coming down to get minerals I suspect although they never did, one took off over the oaks and another decided to look at a large Sallow bush, where he found no females, and he decided to go wandering off. Another Male was seen oak edging further up the ride towards the large car-park, At the Assembly points at ALH(1) there was three males on territory, and female came wandering through and a male followed her in  the usual 'follow me flight' and promptly  disappeared However it was back later, and I think the female was playing hard to get. At the Abbotts Wood territory, there was one male flying around and using a Norwegian Spruce for a landing platform, where he looked very uncomfortable!. My wife and decided to have lunch there, at the picnic tables and just as I was tucking into my Chicken and Mushroom Pie we espied a female flying across the vista she was a lovely specimen with rusty coloured wings, she promptly took off over the Pines and Sweet Chestnut trees, she may well have been looking for a suitable Sallow to Egg-Lay as it was about that time. At Buckshot Hole there was nothing, I don't think they have occupied this site this year. At Goose Green there was a female flying around the Cherry tree as soon as we got there, and was tormenting the males on station of which there were at least (6) two down the ride  on the wayleaves on the large oak, two were at the top on the small beech tree, and one was in Georges Vista.
An excellent days Emperoring.

From Ashley Whitlock

Went to one of my favourite woods today (Sunday), Farley Mount/ West Wood near to Winchester. I got there early anticipating a good showing with good weather in prospect, Unfortunately all I got was a very cloudy day with intermittent bursts of sunshine, I made up for this looking for the main core breeding area. I found a lot of Sallow in the western end of the wood and the ride rises up and runs from West to East, and the Sallow is a potentially good breeding area.However I only glimpsed the Emperor once for a few seconds at 1007 on a Oak tree.

I not sure they are out in significant numbers here yet. The ride where I normally see at least one or two drew a blank, but it was mainly a cloudy day. The Silver -Washed Fritillary took ages to fly and saw only (4) White Admirals and one of these was straight out the box!

Female Seen Feeding At Botany Bay

Today a small group of us watched an Empress feeding from a weeping ash bud scar on the high point at Botany Bay. She returned to probe the tiny wound repeatedly over several hours, before spending a further lengthy period in a large, adjacent sallow. Although we didn't actually observe oviposition there was little doubt about what she was up to, repeatedly 'striking' the upper part of the tall crown. While we were watching her a male passed through rapidly - the only view I had of Him before leaving mid afternoon.

Second port of call was a wood near Billingshurst, which provided several fleeting glimpses of a male around a large oak near the entrance gate. I finished off at Southwater (Madgeland) Wood, where a single male was still active around the Trout Lane car park at 5.30 pm.

The runt pupates

You may remember my post concerning a larva that was well behind: well, it finally pupated today. It is rather small [26 mm long], and I'm wondering if a parasitic fly might emerge: this happened to about 10% of my larvae in Switzerland, although iris parasitism is not known in the UK.

BETTER NEWS FROM NORTHANTS

Andy Wyldes visited Fermyn Woods yesterday morning to find the area almost devoid of iris hunters. He saw half a dozen males on the ground in Souther Wood, all very fresh, and another observer had seen the first female reported there this season. He heard from soeone else who had been there today.and recorded double figures.

In the meantime, I looked in the Silverstone woods today. After a couple of brief sightings amid the canopy I found a grounded male, feeeding on a patch of trodden horse droppings, sadly looking a little worn and appearing to have some damage to its front right leg, though it was able to fly well enough.

Alice Holt

The forecast looked good this morning so was out early but it seemed more like autumn, there was a definate chill in the air. When I arrived at AH I needed a jacket and body warmer. A walk through Abbots wood and back revealed more or less nothing - even the ringlets and meadow browns were still warming up. I shortly bumped into Pauline who had seen some activity the previous day and we chatted as we scanned the oaks and sallows for signs of life. After nearly three fruitless hours we decided to make our way back to the cars. Just as we were leaving the wood I caught sight of what I thought was a white admiral glide into a hazel and perch. Pauline wanted a photograph of the underside of a white admiral and as it had perched i located it in my bins and lo and behold it was a male emperor cleaning its proboscis. I managed to approach it through head high bracken and nettles [ouch!] to grab the shot attached when it flew off. Fortunately its next perch was my foot where it stayed for ten minutes or so - much to everyones amusement. We then spent 45mins in its company as it landed on the track several times then up to a low perches to clean and bask. In all we saw five individuals in AH - two in Straits, only two in Goose Green Old Car park which I was surprised at as the weather was perfect, just the one in Abbots wood. No females for us today.