Final sighting

The last Purple Emperor of 2023 was a female seen in Ruislip Woods on August 3rd. This means that there were only three sightings in August: this one, and my two sightings in Savernake Forest on August 1st. 

Perhaps the key point about the 2023 Purple Emperor season is that it arrived earlier than anyone anticipated and caught us with our trousers down... By the time many observers had realised that the butterfly was in fact well out, the weather was deteriorating. The St Swithun's Day gale effectively ended the season at many sites.

Numbers were excellent, if not superb, in central southern England - even in places where sallows were severely affected by drought in July and August 2022, and shed many leaves. This suggests that the Emperor may be becoming drought proof, like the White Admiral.

Elsewhere, numbers were at best modest - but many recorders got out rather too late in the flight season, and the butterfly may have been under-recorded.

Here's the pupal case of a female, who hatched out circa June 30th, in Cirencester Park Woods, Glos, taken on August 14th. The cases can persist for weeks, or months. 

The long journey into the 2024 Purple Emperor season has started. I'm beginning to look for larvae. Watch this space...

Tues August 1st: The End...

Just two octogenarian males left in Savernake, on their final hours. They'd all but run out of fight. One was so tired he failed to rise to a Honey Buzzard flying just over the treetops. Here he is - 

The journey towards the 2024 Purple Emperor season has already begun... The end is where we start, to reach an end is to make a beginning...

Sat July 29th: Still Going...

I returned to Savernake today, and managed to see 8 more males. It was sunnier but much windier, which meant that territories on higher ground were scarcely occupied. I found two new territories on lower ground, one which held two sparring males. 

This might be my last Emperor of 2023 -

'In my end is my beginning...'

They are still going at Knepp, just. 4 were seen there yesterday, after a gap of several days.

 

Fri July 28th: Still Partying in Savernake...

A cloud-spoiled afternoon along Three Oak Hills Drive in Savernake Forest gave sightings of 9-10 males in four known territories. All bar one were torn and worn. 

Ten minutes of sun at The Dead Beech Glade produced a squabble of three males, and I also saw three in a vista at another territory further on from The Column.

Incredibly, two perched 1m apart. Here's the pic, taken from some distance below (Sav's Beeches are 90-120' tall). Spot the Emperors -

And here's a lone male perching - 

As usual, none was seen in The Column glade, which is only a secondary territory. Yes, that's where everyone goes to see iris in Savernake, and they occasionally do quite well there, but they walk past the best primary territory - the Dead Beech Glade at W3W gold.subtitle.applies - 

Depending on the weather, there's a few days left in Savernake...  

PE seems to be over now at Knepp - no sightings there since Tuesday 25th.

Mon July 24th: Final Sightings...

The Emperor season was hit by another bout of rain on Sat 22nd. I managed to see an OAP male over one of the favoured feeder tree oaks at Knepp an hour before the rain began. Red Admirals were feeding on the sap bleeds there. 

The Red Ad is, of course, staging a mighty bold bid to win Butterfly of the Year - and with a homegrown autumn brood to come...

Oddly, I spotted a male Brown Hairstreak perched on one of the favoured male perching sprays as steady rain arrived.

Since then, there have been single sightings at Knepp on Sun 23rd and Mon 24th, a sighting of a female in Bernwood Forest on Sun 23rd, and sightings on Billa Barra Hill in Leicestershire on Sun 23rd and Mon 24th.  

The race is on for the last iris of the Great 2023 Season (which wasn't great in East of England region, but was just about everywhere else, and was stupendous in Central Southern England). 

This Blog, of course, carries on all year round, covering adventures with the immature stages...

An unusually large number of eggs should have been laid this season, and larvae should be relatively numerous this late summer and autumn. Therefore, this is the year in which to look for new populations by searching for the immature stages. Herefordshire, here I come... ... ...

  

 

Fri July 21st: Herself

It clouded up at 1pm today, just after PEs had become active (late in their season they take the mornings off...). By 2pm it was very dull, by 3pm all species were grounded.

I watched a middle-aged female feed for nearly an hour on an oak sap bleed (the Hornets had stopped flying, too cool for them). Here she is -

She then fell off, before flying off upside down, careering across the glade and crashing onto a bramble patch, pissed. Her she is -

The forecast foul & abusive weather will end this season, ridiculously early (but sooner rather than later the Purple Emperor season will start in May)...

Thurs July 20th: Final Hours at Knepp

I struggled to see 5 PEs at Knepp this afternoon, though it was rather too cloudy: one male in reasonable condition, two geriatric males and two females, one very much in her final hours. Here she is - 

I may not see any tomorrow...

What do you do when the party's over?

Find another party, and the Brown Hairstreak is just starting. Here's Knepp's first of the year, a male high up on Field Maple, this morning -