Thanks for the great comments David, Goldie, Dave and Andrew
Thursday 28th June – Fermyn Woods.
Back in the winter months, when I was having thoughts on what butterflies I would like to see this year, it dawned on me that I had missed out on the Purple Emperor for a few years, my last time being at Fermyn Woods in 2015. This was because I had been focusing on other species that fly around the same time and had booked time off work for breaks elsewhere in the country and I simply cannot be everywhere with my limited time and opportunty.
I had therefore decided this year to book a couple of days off work, one this week and one next week, in order to cover my options for what I thought may be the best time for a visit to Fermyn Woods. There is always the option of a weekend visit but to be honest I find that popular sites like Fermyn can become a bit too busy for my liking at weekends and I find that I do not enjoy the experience as much.
So it was that I set out yesterday morning (Thursday 28th) for the drive over to Fermyn which for me is a fairly straight run of about 90 minutes on a good day. I was aiming to get there for about 08.30am but heavy traffic on the M6 past Coventry and then a long tailback on the A14, apparently caused by an accident, meant that I didn't arrive at the gliding club parking spot until about 09.10 with just half a dozen cars already parked up. Even with it being a weekday I had expected to find more cars there but perhaps people have been tempted down to Knepp with the reports of 300 plus sightings by Matthew Oates and Neil Hulme.
Anyway, I set off down the main ride which has changed a lot since my last visit with the forestry work that has been undertaken here this year. I must admit that I have never lingered long in this part of the woods during my previous visits here, much preferring to walk through to the Lady Wood/Souther Wood complex which I have always found to be more productive. I had also noticed on my last visit in 2015 that this ride was becoming rather shady with many of the trees beginning to meet overhead so, although it looks drastic at the moment, perhaps longer term this work will be of benefit. I spoke to a few people on my way through and opinion seemed to vary between those who saw a longer term benefit and some who were outraged at what they described as 'the carnage'.
- Forestry work in Fermyn Wood - 28.06.2018
Wandering through to Lady Wood, I took the left hand fork at the first junction and it wasn't long before I started to see the first Purple Emperors. Some early mist and cloud had lifted and with the temperature rapidly rising these first sighting were either high up or of individuals flying rapidly along the track at about waist height without stopping.
I had seen that Black Hairstreaks had been having a good year but with their short fight period I had thought that this was a species that I would miss this year. I was therefore pleased to find a few on a small flowering privet along this ride, four or maybe five and very worn and tatty but an unexpected and welcome bonus nevertheless.
- Black Hairstreak - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Black Hairstreaks - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
Whilst I was watching these hairstreaks, I spotted a Purple Emperor flying down the track towards me and as it drew level it settled down in the grass on the opposite verge. I started sneaking over towards it but before I got there it took off again and settled a little higher up on a small oak where I managed to get my first Emperor photo of the day.
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
I then slowly wandered on down to the southern end of the woods, seeing more Emperors skimming along the rides without settling. I headed to a spot where I had seen grounded Emperors in previous years which is at a t-junction where a side track joins the main ride and arriving there I found another enthusiast in the act of photographing a grounded Emperor. I stood back until he was finished and then he invited me over to take a few shots myself.
We started talking and it turned out that he lives fairly close by and had been here the day before and baited this spot the previous day and again that morning.
As we were were talking an Emperor began circling around us and than landed on my top where the other chap, who had introduced himself as Gary, kindly took a couple of photos with my camera. I suppose this cannot be called a 'trousering' as it was not on my trousers but I reckon I can claim to have been 'bellied'
.
- Purple Emperor on my top- Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
I spent an hour or so at this spot with Gary during which we had three or four different Emperors repeatedly coming to ground. As it got hotter and hotter they would sit there with their wings clamped tightly shut so we took turns in trying to shade them with our shadows to see if they would open up. Sometimes they would open their wings briefly and give us the chance for a photo, but not for long and as midday approached they were less inclined to open up, possible because the air temperature was now very warm despite our shadows.
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
As well as the groundings, they would often fly off a short distance and settle on a nearby shrub or tree and extend their proboscis onto a leaf.. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they do this to clean their proboscis after taking up minerals from whatever dodgy substance they have been feeding on.
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
By midday the activity was tailing off and I decided to have a slow wander back up through the woods. This time I took the other track and again saw a number of very active Purple Emperors which appeared to be sticking to the parts of the ride that were in dappled shade. By now they were very skittish in the heat and difficult to approach so I spent most of my time watching rather than trying to take photos.
Heading back through Lady Wood, I bumped into Dave Williams and his brother Steve from West Midlands BC and stopped for a chat. They told me that they had spent some time during the morning with a certain Mr Hulme who had baited a section of track with his magic mixture, and there were still a couple of PE skimming back and forth along this stretch.
- Purple Emperor - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
By now I had drunk all my water and used up my camera batteries (beginners mistake – I had gone out with my spare battery only having about a ¼ charge
), so I wandered back to the car and left just after 2.00pm. To be honest I had planned on leaving around then anyway as I reckoned it would have got a bit too hot plus I also wanted to be back through the M6 around Coventry before the traffic built up later in the afternoon.
I reckon I saw maybe 25-30 Purple Emperors during my morning here which ties in with what others I spoke to thought, including David James, the Northants Butterfly recorder who was there doing a site survey of the Lady/Souther Wood complex.
There were also plenty of other butterflies seen including loads of Whites, Large Skippers, Meadow Browns and Ringlets with Speckled Woods, Red Admirals, Commas, Small Tortoiseshells, White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillaries all seen in lower numbers.
- Small Tortoiseshell - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Comma - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
- Green-veined White - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
I also saw a few Purple Hairsteaks and what I think were White-letter Hairstreaks a couple of times high up. The only one of these that came anywhere close was a Purple Hairstreak that I managed to get a shot of with my camera held at arms length above my head.
- Purple Hairstreak - Fermyn Woods 28.06.2018
All in all a great few hours at a location that I really should visit more often given that it is not really that far from me.
Bye for now,
Neil
Goldie 
Fingers crossed...
. I also quite frequently get error messages and get blocked out so I try to keep my posts as short as possible. With that in mind I love the moth selection Neil and would be delighted to see that Blood-vein. I was surprised to read about Old Lady Callum as they seem to pop up everywhere here including my bedroom!!!