A Worn Emperor at Bernwood Forest 26th June 2020

A visit to Bernwood this morning and at around 1030 a very tired looking male drifted down onto the main track. Looking through the camera lens I could see its wings were badly torn and it looked scruffy and faded as it fed at the side of the track. It took off and flying low and slow with many glides turned down a ride to land on the ground, its distinctive 'yachtsail' profile showing up well on the bare earth. Finally it glided further along the ride, veered right and settled on a hazel leaf in partial sunshine just a couple of feet from the ground where it sat with wings almost closed and then partially open before, after ten minutes, flying up and into the overhanging oaks. Meanwhile a male landed briefly on another person at the end of the ride but rapidly departed. We saw another prospecting the ground on this same ride but it did not settle and flew off into the surrounding trees. Finally another was seen flying around the dog waste bin near the car park but again did not settle. Four Purple Emperors in two hours was good for here. Maybe more to come in the next few days although the worn individual would indicate that some have been out for some time.

Purple Emperor shows itself in Whichford Wood, Warwickshire Friday 26th June

Whichford Wood is a SSSI between Shipton-on-Stour and Chipping Norton on the south-west tip of Warwickshire. I was going with my family for a walk there as it was central meeting up place for us. On arrival I parked (Grid Ref.  SP 29554 34334) waiting for the others to arrive and got a totally unexpected fly-by down the road by His Majesty. What a surprise a Purple Emperor gliding down a B road.
We headed into Whichford wood down the gated path and went almost due south along the track going up hill, not the one which turns right in front of the conifers.
Within 50 metres of the paths splitting a Purple Emperor was found already grounded happily probing away with his proboscis oblivious to us all gawking at it. This was 11 am and the temperature was around 27oC and clear sunny skies. In our family group I was the only one who had previously seen them so the family were suitably impressed.

We watched him for a while as he flashed his royal Purple to all who wanted to see. 

A wonderful and totally unexpected encounter.

FERMYN

Pictures from Robert Manrique " here’s some shots I got yesterday at Fermyn of the only male we saw, he stayed close to the main path nearly the whole afternoon trying to find moisture and salts, he only left for the shelter of the trees at around 1pm"

First Female at Fermyn

Paid another visit to the Fermyn Woods Complex on Friday 26th June 2020, this time with my son. We made an early start, getting to the wood at 08:20. It wasn't long before we were delighted to see a grounded male Purple Emperor in Cherry Lap at 08:46, which was surprising because this wood has fallen out of favour with the Purple Emperor since the ride widening project started. Alas, the butterfly didn't hang around for a long and soon took off, heading for the tree-tops. We saw no further Emperors in this wood.


We traversed the field and entered into Lady Wood /Souther Wood. Here Purple Emperors were more numerous, with 24 males seen over an 8-hour period. Out of this number, 13 individuals had grounded, many of which offered great photographic opportunities to the relatively few people who ventured out into these woods; perhaps many were put off by the forecast of thunderstorms?

Male Purple Emperor on Hazel

Male Purple Emperor on a conifer sap run

Grounded male Purple Emperor

However, it was a sighting of a female Purple Emperor by my son, resting low down on a Stinging Nettle, that really piqued our interest. Shortly after, we were joined by John Wiltshire and, between the three of us, had further sightings of 6 female Purple Emperors over the course of the day. It seemed all the more unusual because 4 of these individuals had grounded on the track.

Grounded female Purple Emperor (Underside)

Grounded female Purple Emperor (Upperside)

To see this many females so early on in the flight period, and to see so many down on the track, is truly uncharacteristic. What on earth is going on this year? :)



　

It's been a tricky old week with His Majesty
at Chiddingfold Forest. Some days it was no
show at all or brief, fidgety landings.
All normal, and sometimes predictable behaviour
has gone out of the window so far this year.
But it has been hot most days.

Today I found one Emperor down on an old
Fox scat, but he was clearly not approachable
so I took some distance shots with a little zoom.
Good job as he was soon off, but, later, gave me
two magnificent flypasts at high speed.

Trevor.

Shady Goings On at Alice Holt

Another hot day around Alice Holt forest was rewarded by 10 sightings of Purple Emperor throughout the day. First a low 'daisy cutting' cruising male past my feet at speed flashing electric blue. This one landed a couple of times, but did not settle, eventually deciding to rest 10ft up in a sallow around 11.30. An hour later another male made his presence clear by attacking a Beautiful Demoselle damselfly, clashing mid-air. The Demoselle backed down, and did not appear quite so beautiful after that!
Other brief groundings were seen, but they did not stay down for long. As Matthew predicted they were spending a lot of time in the shadier areas of the wood. A couple of times I saw males disappearing into 'black holes' in the woodland and did not see them fly out. A bit of further excitement occurred when a male investigated some cars at 13.00 but did not care to land. My final sightings were at Goose Green at 15.30 with males half-heartedly going into battle, then sitting on the tallest branches for a well earned rest.

First Purple Emperor of the day.

Cotgrave Woods

A couple of photos from Jill Hannah yesterday: