Numbers building at Fermyn

Whilst some were chasing the rare ab at Oversley, the real prize this week was a vacant parking space at the Glider Club entrance to Fermyn. Numbers have been steadily building this week, but it wasn't until yesterday that His Imperial subjects were actually outnumbered by the Emperor himself. It was great to get re-aquainted with so many old 'Purple Punters' from far and wide and to meet some new ones who I'd only previously corresponded with over social media. 

Even the 'Fermyn Light Horse' were in evidence, plying their trade down the rides. Sadly my own trusty steed, the famous 'Blue Afflicta' went lame on me (rear tyre went off with a bang) I was forced to borrow Shanks's Pony. Cheers for that Shanks.

Despite the valiant attempts of the Met Office to predict the weather in the Midlands they have got it all wrong this week, with rubbish days turning out to be great purple ones and the predicted 'Diamond Day' on Thursday never materialising. That said HIM is definitely gathering momentum. Yesterday I was surrounded by six pristine males all at my feet. A bewildering spectacle in terms of which one to get a portrait of. Numerous 'trouserings' 'bootings' and 'fingerings' were to be seen, much to the delight of the adoring crowd. I must have seen 20+ Emperors yesterday, all of them came to ground, perched on the logs and a couple low down in trees. Easy meat if you wanted to capture that regal flush.

The much feared ride clearances were nowhere near as bad as had been described at Souther and Lady Wood, with most Sallows spared Forestry England's woodman's axe.  In fact the stored cut timber piles provided numerous sap bleeds for the Emperor to feast on. Also good to see the gradual regeneration of the Cherry Lap ride, and more sightings along there yesterday than there have been in the last few years. So peak emergence is rapidly approaching at Fermyn, but the Empress has yet to make an appearance, but I suppose it's females' perogative to be a little late to the party.

People have been reporting a weird phenomenon at places along the Souther and Lady Wood rides. A strange aroma reminiscent of Billingsgate Market and seaside eating establishments. I must confer with my learned friend and Emperoring buddy, Toby Ludlow, as to what that could possibly be all about 🤔.

Rarest sighting of all this week was the afternoon appearance of Kasia Bukowska and Nigel Kitely. They simply do not do Emperors and definitely don't do afternoons 😁. There's something in the air at Fermyn.

Notts Kicks Off and the Sun Shines at Knepp...

First Emperors of the year seen today at Cotgrave, meaning that Notts joins the list of counties where Emperors are currently flying.

More sightings and photos in Fermyn Woods, where the butterfly now seems well out, and 20 were seen today in the SE sector of Alice Holt Forest, Hants. Also, some good sightings in Bernwood Forest,  which straddles the Bucks / Oxon border.

Find of the day was by Liz Goodyear and Andrew Middleton who turned up a new site in west Norfolk.

At Knepp, the sun shone gloriously for almost the entire day, for the first time in ages.... I walked the Knepp PE transect in the afternoon. This totalled six, which isn't at all impressive (the record is 66!). I'd looked for sallow-searching males during the morning and struggled to see seven. All told I managed to see 24 males at Knepp today. By Knepp's standards that's not good, but the emergence there may have been held up by persistent foul and abusive weather (Knepp really has drawn the short straw weather-wise since Midsummer Day...). We wont know what stage the Knepp season's at for a few days.

Technically, this should be a great weekend to look for Emperors just about everywhere, but the forecast is very poor indeed - and even worse for Monday and Tuesday. However, the Azores anticyclone is set to start nudging over from midweek next week, and redeem this thoroughly wretched season...    

Bernwood today

 Saw 2 in the first 5 minutes of arriving in the car park at 10.30am. Luckily the car park was relatively empty, I'm sure that will change over the next week. 

One was flying around the dog litter bin and then settled there..really purple and red? Got some shots of males on the hardcore path, they seemed relatively docile. Others had seen 6 or 7 so they are about. 

Mark Griffiths, Garsington, Oxford.

Rainy Day Blues...

 Another awful day at Knepp, which was under a shower convergence zone and must have had received 10mm of rain today. I struggled to see two males with a brave safari group. Tomorrow is supposed to see a weak ridge of high pressure, so I should at last be able to gain an impression of numbers here (as yet, I have no idea).

If you're visiting Knepp over the next week please be aware that the paths are seriously muddy. Water scarcely percolates through the Weald Clay, but just sits there; and the free-ranging cattle use the path system too...

Elsewhere, we have the first aberration of the year, a pristine male which is probably ab. afflicta, seen and photoed at Oversley Wood, S Warwicks (yes, yet another ab. in an introduced population [estab. 2004 if I remember right]). 

Also, the year's first female, again at Oversley, only she'd been damaged - probably because she emerged in yesterday's wind and got blown down before her wings were fully set, as happens in windy or wet weather.  

About 20 seen today in Fermyn Woods too.

That apart, a lot of people hanging about in The Empire, waiting for the clouds to part...

And the forecast for Saturday, Monday and Tuesday is Absolutely Foul. However, the Azores high is supposed to be coming over later next week (seeing is believing... #ItsComingHome).

To date, this is an old fashioned Purple Emperor season with the males taking to the air whenever the July rains relent.

Praying for Purple.

 After spending the day walking around Abbots Wood, Alice Holt with blanket cloud cover, things looked pretty grim searching for any Purple Emperors. It was my second visit here on both occasions meeting up with Mark Tutton. We covered the areas we were familiar with which had been good in previous years. At around 16.00 we met up and it turned out Mark had seen 2 males around an hour before very briefly, one putting the other up nearby over a sunny oak along a ride. As we spoke the sun came out and at last I had a one second view of a male which circled and then vanished. We both spoke to a young lady taking her dachshund for a walk who asked what we were looking for, we told her Purple Emperors. She immediately told us she had seen a male Purple Emperor on her window sill at the nearby convent at around 13.30. We had no reason to doubt her as she had seen it well and was very interested in butterflies. This all leads me to believe that there were a lot more around than we were able to see. They were probably just sitting motionless high above us waiting for a bit of sun to get them going. It does look like it could be a poor year not helped by the atrocious weather, I am hoping things are late with next week seeing numbers go up. All will no doubt be revealed once we get some settled sunny conditions. Tomorrow onwards could see things improving .

Dorset Kicks Off

First Emperor of the year seen today in the main Dorset site, by Dave Law. 

New colony discovered on Monday near Tiptree in Essex by Laurence Drummond. Top work!

I got into double figures at Knepp today by working leeward oak edges - west and south-facing edges were far too windswept, it's a very wind-prone site. I think they're only just getting going at Knepp now. 

Three males during a ten minute sunny spell in a wood north of the main block of Bernwood Forest today by Wendy and Mick Campbell, then a deluge. 

A couple of fighting males seen in Alice Holt Forest.

Conclusion: still early days but they're getting going now...

Savernake Kicks Off

Pretty dire weather in The Empire today, especially in the south-eastern part, but the wind wasn't as strong as feared, so it's unlikely that any significant damage was done (especially as most of the 2021 Emperors are still pupae). 

Pleased to see the first Savernake Emperor of the year, before showers curtailed the visit. I'd called in, on route back to Knepp, to look for the pupa of my last larva there, a female - found the witch 4m up, through binoculars. So Wiltshire is now purple for the season.

The only other records I've received from today are of four males seen in Fermyn Woods, in fairly poor weather.

There's been a major breakthrough in finding Purple Emperor pupae this summer. The revelation that the pupae flouresce under UV light has prompted several of us to splash out on expensive UV torches (from Amazon USA) and scan for pupae in the dark. They show up strongly under UV light. Inspired, some of us have successfully found pupae by day too. A good dozen wild pupae are currently under observation, in W Sussex, Sherwood Forest and Lincs. Congrats to all those who've found them - ground-breaking stuff (and not in my book).  

There should be a reasonable emergence tomorrow, weather permitting...