We're Off!

Welcome to the 2022 Purple Emperor season, which could be an extremely good one (weather permitting)...

I saw three males at Knepp today: 2 males chasing at 12.33, just where I had a distant sighting yesterday which I was loath to claim, followed by two sightings of a singleton in the next ten minutes.

Half a mile away, at 1.30, a pristine male, quite probably on his maiden flight, flew around me two or three times, and almost settled to feed on the track before feeding on sticky oak leaf 3m up above me -

No other sighting for me, perhaps due to the wind, but a lone male was seen at the Hill Farm Territory at Bookham Common in Surrey and another in Alice Holt Forest in Hampshire.  

To the woods, the lot of you... Enjoy...

Twitter: @MatthewOates76 (I wasn't born in 1976, I was reborn; it was the best butterfly summer ever...)

 

Possible Sightings...

I may well have spotted the first Emperor of the year at Knepp today. 

Two sightings, brief, high up and distant, at the back of a known territory, at 2.36 and 2.45. 

But I'm not 100% sure as I was too far away to see the white bands - it was far too big to be a Red Ad, and it pursued a crow, and Silver-washed Fritillary hasn't started here yet. 

My policy is 'If in any doubt chuck it out!', so I'm not claiming it...

Tomorrow perhaps, Saturday certainly...

 

Ready...

  The Purple Emperor flight season continues to be delayed. The cold weather of the long Jubilee weekend further slowed larval & pupal development down, and the weather hasn't yet improved - though it's forecast to. One major problem is cold nights. 

  As an example, the three larvae I'm rearing in a sleeve in my garden entered the final instar on May 16th, which is quite early. However, the weather deteriorated after a warm and fine weekend on May 21st-22nd and they slowed right down. One of them pupated only this morning, with another busy pupating close by -

  These two wont be out before the very end of June, but they're in Gloucestershire, and female, and their male cousins in the sunnier Southeast will start to emerge well before then. 

  It may be that a few larvae on early-leafing sallows in the Southeast were pupating over the weekend of May 21st-22nd, before the weather deteriorated - in which case they may be on the wing this coming weekend (June11th-12th), or in mid-June.  

  The main emergence is now unlikely to start before the weekend of June 18th-19th, and unless you're working an 'early' site you know well my advice is not to bother looking until that weekend.  

  Watch this space, and follow me on Twitter @MatthewOates76 (I wasn't born in 1976, I was reborn then...)

Jubilee Statement

We don't want a monarchy. We don't want a republic. We want an Empire, and a lot of squabbling Emperors...

Revised Flight Season Start: 1pm on Wed June 15th.  

 

Delay!

   The current cool weather has slowed larval, and doubtless pupal, development right down. This means that the flight season may well not start before mid-June now (and the weather may worsen over the Jubilee weekend, given the track record of jubilee weather...). 

  The three larvae I have in a sleeve in my garden have virtually stopped developing altogether, but we've had night temperatures as low as 1C (on the last two nights)! They're full grown, or thereabouts, but need warmth to start to pale up and begin the process of pupation.

  Likewise, the larvae I'm following in my local woods (Boris & Co) have slowed right down, with the exception of Priti and Liz who are late developers, now catching up.

  My guess is that some larvae pupated in the Southeast over the warm weekend of May 21st-22nd, possibly one or two before then. In theory those could start to emerge as butterflies circa June 10th, but they're very few of them and may not get seen. We could be in for a longer than normal flight season. And there could be a goodly number of aberrations around, due to cold nights producing cold shock on newly formed pupae. 

  Cool weather slows pupal development right down, and we know that the longer the insect stays in the pupal stage the fewer adults fly, due to increased mortality. The future of the 2022 Purple Emperor season hangs in the balance.

Watch this space...

Here's Jacob from May 29th -

Stuck on his seat leaf waiting for it to warm up...

The 2022 Purple Emperor Season

 Unless the Platinum Jubilee generates the traditional foul & abusive jubilee weather we are set for a very early Purple Emperor flight season, and quite possibly an extremely good one.

I was going for a 1pm start on Thurs June 9th but the last week of May, a crucial period in determining our Midsummer butterflies' appearance, has been cool, especially at night. The 9th is still a distinct possibility but the weekend of the 11th-12th is now more likely. I'm going for 1pm on the 11th.

Neil Hulme is predicting the 15th, as "we're bound to get some poor weather" and Ben Greenaway is going for the 13th.  

The official record for the earliest UK Purple Emperor is 10/6/1893, though in that exceptionally hot summer it was 'out in the New Forest by early June' - whatever that means. The modern record is 11/6/2017 and 11/6/2019.

Those records could well be broken this year. 

However, each year we receive claims of very early Emperors from strange places by people who are not known to be official Emperorphiles. I'm sorry, but it is hard to accept such records. If there's a smidgen of doubt, don't claim it: genuine Emperor sightings leave you in no doubt whatsoever... (and this applies to me too).

Although much depends on weather during the pupation and pupal stages (more so than flight season weather) this summer could well see a distinctly large emergence - this could be an all-time great Purple Emperor year.

Meanwhile, here's Boris the Emperor caterpillar, taken the other day. He's full grown and ready to pupate, and he's in the sunless wastes of Gloucestershire. As has been written large on a bridge over the M4 at Bristol: Boris Is Helch - 

For regular updates on Emperor affairs follow me on Twitter @MatthewOates76

Early Season Likely...

 A quick heads up to say that Purple Emperor larvae are developing rapidly in this fine spring. Some are already entering the final instar. That's very early...

As things stand, we can anticipate the flight season to start in (or even by) mid-June, and for it to be over by, say, July 21st.  

I will post my official prediction for the start date in a week or so's time. 

Expect, though, extreme weather at and around the time of Her Majesty's jubilee - given that the seven royal jubilees held to date have all generated extreme (and mainly bad) weather. That may delay the flight season. 

Also, this could be an extremely good Emperor season, though much depends on weather during the pupation and pupal periods.