A couple of weekends in England

Dear Purple Subjects:

I found your site when surfing UK Butterflies' site. Wonderful stuff and great value. You guys would fit right in here in South Africa where we have some memorable characters chasing butterflies. Some of the stories had me rolling on the floor laughing...

I used to live in the UK years ago and work for a British company, so I get over there occasionally. Usually in winter... but this June/July I cracked an invite for a conference. I took the trusty Nikon with me and contacted a Saffa expat mate, JP Brouard, who lives in Woodcote - the objective being to photograph some of the species I used to collect 30+ years ago. And of course His Majesty was top on the list, although I knew 27 June was a bit early.

So off we went to Bernwood Forest and Whitecross Green Woods. We had a great time - White Admirals all over the place - and Black Hairstreak too, which was a UK Primary Experience for me, having never found it during my 23 years of living there. This was a real thrill. But no Apatura iris... despite a BBCS member telling us he'd seen one minutes earlier not far from the Black Hairstreaks!

I have to compliment the UK people on how they look after these woods. Well maintained, lots of info boards, no exotic weeds - we in SA can learn a lot.

Anyway, I work for a firm whose HQ is in Wollaston which isn't far from Kettering... and during the week after, one of my colleagues told me to go to Fermyn the next weekend, as well as Michael Field, one of the guys I'd met at Bernwood. But as JP lives so far south, and for sentimental reasons, I decided to go to Broxbourne where I used to look for it (and occasionally succeed...) years ago. The UK Butterflies site said it was active. Then JP called to say his car was kaput and couldn't come, but I persisted with Broxbourne as the weather forecast for Northants looked dodgy. More fool me...

I got to Broxbourne and found it totally changed from when I used to go there. It used to have conifers all over the place and the Emperor spots were buried in the forest where Sallow grew near a few streams. Now, like Bernwood, it is clean and tidy with far more butterflies than I remember there being in the past. Fantastic. And it was hot and sunny!

I hooked up with a bunch of butterflyers who were looking for Purples. Eventually we found one sucking on a turd but he took fright and zoomed off before I could get a decent photo.

There then followed a lot of walking up and down fruitlessly looking at turds. I began to wish I'd brought a Charaxes trap from home. I started thinking - if this was Africa where would I be looking... MUD! And right next to me was a little dried up stream whose bed was full of siff mud, with a male Purple Emperor sitting right on it!

We all looked at one another... and as I've lain down in much nastier stuff than this in Africa I elected to get down 'n' dirty with this Emperor. The first thing I did was to get on a level with him:


Then started the attempts to get a 'Purple' shot. He would NOT open his wings. We tried everything - and he kept taking off, circling us, and landing again. A crowd of people gathered, and got very interested in these idiots grovelling in the mud. Luckily I had my khaki bush gear on, so it didn't show too much! Eventually we found he'd open up for a few seconds after a flight...




But... no purple.


By this stage I realised he'd become habituated, as often happens with butterflies I photograph in Africa. I nudged him and he flipped his wings open for a few seconds - then went back to sucking that mud. It must have tasted nice! I got one of my boon companions to nudge him, he obliged, and I got a bit of purple this time:





















But nothing like I'd seen on the UK Butterflies site. Eventually I divined that I was wasting my time, and he was so docile he was ready for a finger shot...




















This had all the onlookers gasping - and he proceeded to act like Paris bloody Hilton, showing off, flipping his wings (but I never got a shot of the Purple), landing on people, sitting on faces... in the end I left him to it!

When I got home, Michael Field e-mailed me a bunch of stunning Purple shots he'd taken in Fermyn Wood that same day - it had been fitfully sunny and the Emperors were opening their wings to sun themselves. I gnashed my teeth as I started planning how to persuade the Firm to hold another conference in July...

I've sent Michael and JP links to the Purple Empire... I'm sure they will join up!

Cheers

Steve

The 2010 Egg Lay

By mid August I have found 11 eggs & young larvae in 9 hours of searching, at 1.22 per hour, compared with 37 in 16 hours 30 mins at 2.24 per hour by this time last year. Brother Dennis has found 6 in 8.5 hours searching, which is poor by his standards. Both searches were made in areas searched during the corresponding period last year. Importantly, 7 of my 11 must have been laid as eggs before the mid July gales - and, crucially, only 4 thereafter. Yet the females were only just getting into the swing of egg laying prior to the St Swithin's gale, and should have laid the bulk of there eggs after that date.

It seems that the gale killed off a great many adults prematurely, perhaps especially the females (though why that should be I know not). Certainly, I struggled to see females after that date, and I was seriously looking.

At this range, the prospects for the 2011 season cannot be good... .

the last of the ladies?

A new observer.............a woodland owner [so that is useful!]...........saw this sad female on 8th August on his landrover in his yard. She crawled onto the underside of his spare wheel and shuffled off her mortal coil the next day. It is also a new habitat, near Wendover, on the Chilterns

To The End

Sat August 7th (my birthday...): three iris males still active in three of the most favoured territories in Savernake Forest. One launched himself at a buzzard, which is not bad for Day 40 of the Savernake flight season. Then today, Sun 8th, a more thorough search of six primary territories there produced just two males, one of which was intact though worn, and nicely active. But these might be our last of the year ... . And again no sign of Herself.
Coming soon: a statement on the 2010 egg lay, and it's not good news.

berksbucksoxon: last of the season [?] and egg problems

A concentrated 2-hour search for eggs in a 'good wood' here by three of us produced just one. This is the worst result I've ever had in 28 years of looking. Normally, in 2 hours, I would find between 5 and 10. Matthew speculates it may have something to do with the week of high winds in the middle of July. Can't think what else it might have been due to; the number of adults seen in this region was higher than ever before. In this 'good wood' there was still activity yesterday [3rd August] with two on territory. The male shown perching on a favourite Oak looks very much the worse for wear, however.

Last of the season at Marks Hall

Iris Newbery, a founding member of Cambs & Essex Branch of BC, showed some of us round the woodland walks at Marks Hall, Essex last Thursday, 29 July. Although generally overcast, we found what must have been one of the last male PEs of the season, and saw numerous Silver-washed Fritillaries. The warden told me that there had been a good number of sightings this season and Apatura Iris were well-established here again. I don't have details but they were introduced 10 years ago to a nearby wood, from where they have spread to Marks Hall. No additions have been made for the last 4 years. I shall be searching earlier next season. It's a lovely place to visit and good facilities, but there is an entrance charge. Matthew - I made a Great Butterfly Count return for 15 mins at Marks Hall to include one Purple Emperor, so that's one more on record!

David Newland

Endings

The above is one of the many highlights of the 2010 iris flight season, which is now ending. (Fermyn Woods, 4th July, old horse manure revitalised with Ask Not... ).

Yesterday, Sun Aug 1st, I managed to see 2 males in Savernake Forest, plus the briefest of sightings of a female: single males in two of the most favoured territories along Three Oak Hill Drive. I was rather thwarted by cloud. The odd male may last till the weekend.

Eggs are extremely hard to find in Wiltshire this year. I am not sure why but suspect that the windy weather around Swithin's Day knocked many females out, at least in this part of the country. Further north and east, the gale wasn't so severe. Brother Ken, for example reports a hugely successful flight season at Bookham Common, Surrey.

For some of us the Emperor Season is ending, but not for me (I have now seen iris in the wild for 15 consecutive months, which may constitute Obsessive Behaviour; at least I hope so). Watch this space...