Neil Hulme

[David M]

Fabulous, Neil. I never tire of these 'full purple' images.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Wurzel, Jack, Trevor and David. The emperors at Knepp are still emerging in numbers, so the next few days will be busy!
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

100 Emperors

Plenty of Purple Emperor action at Knepp again yesterday (3 July) with the single species Green Lane transect producing its season best tally of 31 males on territory. Matthew Oates counted 66 in the sallow jungles away from the Green Lane (from his total of 76) and I counted 23 in other areas (from my total of 54), giving a minimum combined total of 97. However, it is likely that we together saw well in excess of 100 individual butterflies. Matthew's score sheet included three females. Males are still emerging and females are still hard to find (I've seen just one so far), so I suspect the flight will peak this weekend or early next week.

[Neil Hulme]

Knepp Again

More fun at Knepp today (4 July) starting with another Wildland safari, during the course of which I counted 45 Purple Emperor. The highlight was when a female rejected the advances of an amorous male, with the pair spiraling down to within a metre of where I was standing.

I later walked the Green Lane transect, with a further increase in numbers to 42; males are still emerging and we are yet to see the peak of this year's flight. I counted a further 26 individuals in the sallow fields away from the safari route, bringing the day's total to 113 emperors.

Afternoon highlights included an empress leading a trail of four males, resulting in a high level pairing at Bentons Gorse at 14.40 hrs, and attacks on Great Spotted Woodpecker and Bullfinch.

[Wurzel]

Looks like they're getting down lower and lower Neil Interesting to see the shots of the one on the tree - is it taking sap?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

All's looking positive with those numbers, Neil. I guess at some point next week they will hit their peak?

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Wurzel. Yes, that emperor is at the sap bar.
Hi David. It's difficult to call 'peak' this year, as the emergence has been drawn out by the poor June weather. Females are still low in number.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Safari Re-run & Botany Bay

The Sunday (7 July) morning Knepp Wildland Purple Emperor Safari was conducted under cool, damp and grey conditions and it looked likely that Matthew Oates and I were about to lose our 100% record of showing the target species to visitors. However, we managed to glimpse three just before heading back to base, and there is always plenty more to see at Knepp.

I offered to take the group out again during the afternoon and about half were able to join me for a re-run under increasingly warm and sunny conditions. This time we were much more successful, clocking up 43 Purple Emperors. We also discovered the now famous sap run on the Green Lane, which has hosted up to five emperors at a time, and may do more.

After taking a group from Steyning out to Knepp on Monday morning (8 July) I decided to travel to Botany Bay for a change of scenery. Two emperors came to ground and the rides were littered with male Silver-washed Fritillary.

[Old Wolf]

Hello Neil,
I am catching up on diaries and cannot believe the amount of Purple Emperors you have been seeing, is this usual or more than usual? It sounds like a dream come true

Can I just ask a question about your photography because all of your images are crystal clear with loads of detail? I know you mentioned using a Lumix but do you have it on macro setting to get such a large amount of detail? I can see all the hairs and scales on the wings in pretty much all of your shots.

[David M]

Sounds like things are picking up after a slow start, Neil.

Is there any evidence of aberrations such as those that have been seen in White Admiral and Silver Washed Fritillary?

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Old Wolf. I use the Panasonic Lumix FZ38 with the Panasonic close-up lens for the vast majority of my images, only removing the lens for longer range shots, such as landscapes. I use the 'P' setting on the dial (sometimes referred to as 'idiot mode' by serious photographers) and only ever tinker with the exposure setting. I just let the excellent Leica lens do all the work, although very good lighting is essential to get the best results from small-sensor bridge cameras.

Hi David. No dark aberrations on my patch ... sadly. I saw some discussion about these in another thread, so here are a few thoughts on the subject, taken from The Butterflies of Sussex:

"The ‘Black Admiral’

Collectors of the past, and photographers in the modern era, have always enthused over the aberrant, dark forms of the White Admiral. Those specimens in which the white bands have been greatly reduced, to leave mere smudges of grey, are termed ab. obliterae, while fully black individuals, which are genuinely rare, are referred to ab. nigrina. Aberrant individuals, which err significantly from the standard pattern of a species (which is itself often subject to some lesser degree of natural variation), may be produced by either genetic or environmental mechanisms. The ‘Black Admiral’ falls into the latter category.

Colin Pratt’s definitive 2011 work on the history of Sussex Lepidoptera records that “Analysis of the history of these melanic forms shows that they have often occurred together in the county, both in distinct episodes and in the same places …”. These “same places”, at least during the current atlas period (2010 – 2014), have notably included the Southwater Woods complex, and a scattering of woods in the Ashington/Wiston/Ashurst area. 2010 was the last year during which significant numbers of these prized aberrant forms were recorded.

Although ‘Black Admirals’ can potentially turn up anywhere that a population of this species exists, there is no doubt that some locations demonstrate a consistent, albeit periodic tendency to produce specimens of ab. obliterae and ab. nigrina. This suggests that the environmental conditions which influence their creation are in some way exacerbated by the physical attributes of these sites. The existence of such a link is supported by the ability of these same locations to produce dark, aberrant forms of other species, including the Silver-washed Fritillary, Comma and Small Tortoiseshell, at the same time of year.

Butterfly breeders have long been aware that it is possible to produce these unusual colour forms in captivity, by artificially chilling the insect while the chrysalis is being formed. It therefore seems likely that atypically large diurnal temperature variations, during the late May to early June period, may be the trigger for this phenomenon. When night-time temperatures drop, the topography and microclimate of some sites may increase the likelihood of this outcome, through the development of ‘frost pockets’.

The Southwater and Ashington/Wiston/Ashurst sites do have some features in common, including deeply incised stream ghylls running close to localised high-points. Chill, damp air will sink into and collect over lower lying areas in the landscape, which will almost certainly include some of this species’ breeding areas. Whatever the mechanism, when the White Admiral population builds once more, these are the locations which are again most likely to produce these unusual and much celebrated specimens."

Temperatures were notably low during the period 10 - 13 June 2019, which probably triggered the happy events at e.g. Alice Holt.

BWs, Neil

[Old Wolf]

Thanks, Old Wolf. I use the Panasonic Lumix FZ38 with the Panasonic close-up lens for the vast majority of my images, only removing the lens for longer range shots, such as landscapes. I use the 'P' setting on the dial (sometimes referred to as 'idiot mode' by serious photographers) and only ever tinker with the exposure setting. I just let the excellent Leica lens do all the work, although very good lighting is essential to get the best results from small-sensor bridge cameras.

Thanks for the insight and regardless of setting, the results are astounding

[Neil Hulme]

Botany Bay & Knepp 9.7.19

On Tuesday I spent the morning at Botany Bay (allegedly just in Surrey) with Ben Greenaway. Despite this being a late Purple Emperor season, which started slowly, I was nevertheless surprised at how many of the males are clearly still emerging, based on this and subsequent visits; we saw two on the ground which can have been no more than 24 hours old.

I then moved on to Knepp, where Matthew Oates and I led another Purple Emperor safari, during which we witnessed a courtship flight and pairing, high in an oak. We later went back out and confirmed that the happy couple were joined for three hours and fifteen minutes. By this time our combined tally for the day had reached 62 emperors.

[Neil Hulme]

Botany Bay 10.7.19

On Wednesday I returned to Botany Bay, which some say is in Surrey. I again teamed up with Ben Greenaway and we enjoyed another day searching for emperors, with surprisingly few other enthusiasts around. More pristine males were seen on the ground, but they were outdone by a very large empress searching for moisture. White Admiral numbers are good here this year, with many visiting the forest road surface. I also found two mating pairs of Ringlet and was pleasantly surprised by the presence of three Dark Green Fritillary (2m, 1f).

[Neil Hulme]

Botany Bay & Knepp 11.7.19

On Thursday (11 July) I spent the morning at Botany Bay and the first butterfly I saw was a Purple Emperor on the forest road, but its posture immediately appeared unnatural. Closer examination revealed that it was an empress in the last moments of her short life, as she was being killed and dismembered by a posse of hungry wood ants; macabre but fascinating to watch - I didn't intervene. She was 'recycled' within a couple of hours. The other Purple Emperors (4) I saw on the ground were all either 'day 1' or 'day 2' males, indicating that the protracted emergence continues.

I then moved to Knepp, where Matthew Oates and I led the last of the 2019 Purple Emperor safaris, during which more than 30 were seen. The safaris may be over for another year (our thanks to all the wonderful people who joined us), but the emperor season still has much to give.

[Maximus]

That's a sad end for the empress, Neil, any thoughts as to why it happened to such a large and highly mobile butterfly?

[David M]

Yes, I agree with Mike, a powerful butterfly such as this could surely have got airborne to escape these attackers? Do the ants transmit some kind of poison in their bites?

[Jack Harrison]

It is probably wrong to assume that the ants killed the butterfly. It may already have died from some other cause and the ants were merely the equivalent of re-cyclers.

Jack

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, all. No assumptions made, Jack - trust me, I'm a scientist . The ants certainly killed her; the butterfly was struggling and still very much alive when I found her. Without going into too much detail, I can rule out the possibility of her being squashed by a vehicle - and if it was possible for a human to tread on her (early morning dog-walker?), then she must have already been sufficiently immobile to be attacked. Also, there was no sign of compaction to her body parts.

The most likely explanation is that she was already close to the end of her life, whether just through old age or some other factor, and was sitting on the track when ambushed by several ants. It was still quite early in the morning (9.30 am) and cool with 100% cloud cover. No insects were flying and whatever else may have been ailing her, a rapid escape would have been hampered by her low body temperature. Huge numbers of butterflies are killed by predators (spiders, ants etc.) before they're warm enough for flight, which is why roosting is such a dangerous business.

BWs, Neil

[Jack Harrison]

Not all that much difference from the scientist’s view and my own. I had been unhappy with the implication in David’s comments that an army of ants had “attacked” a lively healthy Purple Emperor. You observed that the ants finished off a sick (or immobile) insect: I suggested that they dealt with an already dead one.

Jack