INSTANT TROUSERING!

Neil Hulme saw his first Purple Emperor of the year today, at Knepp Wildland. Within a minute this pristine male had descended from on high to feast on his flesh, trousers, camera, the lot - apart, curiously, from the crutch and buttocks. 

Only the Good Lord knows when Neil last washed, or put his jeans through the mangle...

Throughout this 30 minute epic trousering Neil remained in statuesque pose, scarcely able to breathe. 

This is what the Purple Emperor does to us...

Tomorrow, an upskirting episode, perhaps...

I'm a Yorkshireman now!

We moved away from the Upper Thames region to Sheffield two and a half years ago, so my purple perspectives, have, of necessity, changed. My main interest now is to monitor the northward movement of HIM, and I look forward to hearing about your sightings north of Rockingham Forest. It is well established in several woods in south Lincolnshire, and there are two woods much further north where it is seen: Chambers Farm Wood, Lincs, and Cotgrave Wood, Nottinghamshire.
Exciting new discoveries were made in the last two years, with several sightings between the north west edge of Leicester and the south eastern extremity of the National Forest [near Coalville]. We are keen to find out more about the distribution of iris in the National Forest.

More storks than emperors!

Fantastic visit to Knepp for my son Henry (6)  and I on Monday, more storks than we could count and a few emperors too! 

We were lucky enough for one to interrupt our discussion of marvel superheroes with a grounding on the very northern part of green lanes.  But they would not open their wings for us one bit!! 

We will be back next week for sure! 

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0Aa_FlEdTbrUGWHq0NRt16PoQ#Charlwood

June 17th

Very little progress today. It's almost as if we're in Week 0, rather than Week 1.

We await Big Bang (mass emergence period)...

June 16th

The Glorious 16th, the opening day of the coarse fishing season, when the young at heart sojourn over misty waters, to fish for tench...

Purple Emperor coming out very slowly at Knepp. Only four or five seen today, but including the first territorial battles of the year, a de-titting, and the first eviscerations of chaffinch, wood pigeon and the Purple Hairstreak. Here's the main protagonist -

We're opening the Purple Emperor walk at Knepp this Friday, though I advise leaving visiting until next week when numbers will be much better.  

The only other record from the 16th was of a male in Epping Forest, per Laurence Drummond.

On the Wing in Germany

Vaclav Masek has a photo of iris from Mörfelden in Hessen, taken Friday 12th June.

http://www.lepiforum.de/2_forum_2017.pl?page=1;md=read;id=24776

Latitude about the same as Penzance. 

Mon June 15th

I struggled to see a single male at Knepp, in four hours searching in perfect weather conditions today (Mon June 15th).  

No other sightings reported from elsewhere today.

They haven't got going yet.

Advise, leave it til the weekend... and watch this space.