Thanks Katrina - in this PD you have to wade through a lot of very similar photos of caterpillars, but every now and again something interesting pops up!
Wurzel - I’m sure males of many species detect pupae one way or another but the example that always springs to my mind is that of Heliconius charithonia. We had a separate greenhouse to breed these at Stratford (actually the only breeding we did in house), and it would be common to see males hanging on female pupae awaiting their eclosion. I never saw them ripping open the pupal case, but as soon as she started to emerge it was certainly game on……
Pauline - really glad it’s of interest! I’ve been lucky to find various things that bring it to life a bit this year - it could very easily be a diary of losses and not much else! In terms of bringing it all together, I always planned for it to be a 5 year study. We’ll see what happens, but some kind of summary or report might be justifiable by the end of it. Whether this takes on a strictly scientific form, or the more personal style of this diary, I’m not too sure.
Bugboy - thanks for adding your thoughts and theories around swallowtails and sedges - really interesting. As always when you consider subjects outside of any areas of expertise you may have, you have to take a fairly basic reasoning approach - think Dupin and that poor woman stuffed up a chimney. In this vein I find the fluorescence of the iris pupae particularly intriguing for a number of reasons. One of the main ones, is that it occurs in the pupa but not the larva. I can’t imagine that either occurrence ie non fluorescence of larva or fluorescence of pupa is accidental, so any theory that accounts for this must explain why whatever benefit the pupa derives from fluorescence wouldn’t also benefit the larva were it also able to fluoresce.
It also seems rare in pupae. I haven’t yet found any other species where the pupae fluoresce. Of course I imagine other members of the Apaturinae do, but it certainly doesn’t seem widespread, even in species where the larvae do fluoresce. If the properties of fluorescing proteins are particularly beneficial to pupae in some way, as might be imagined, then I would have thought it would be more widespread - certainly in sallow feeding species that have access to the same chemistry as iris does. I recently visited my friends at the butterfly farm but unfortunately this wasn’t on my mind - I will arrange another trip and be sure to test the 50 or so species from around the world that I’ll have access to there.
Both wild pupae under observation were still present today (22nd).
Benjamin
Re: Benjamin
Hi Benjamin,
is that a public-facing butterfly farm? If so, which one? (I'm unable to locate one anywhere near me, so 'anywhere in the central South' would be good!)
BR, Jon
is that a public-facing butterfly farm? If so, which one? (I'm unable to locate one anywhere near me, so 'anywhere in the central South' would be good!)
BR, Jon
Re: Benjamin
Of course! They advertise in the BC mag. Might see if the IoW one is open again. Reasonable list here https://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/blo ... es-near-me
Re: Benjamin
Pupae season:
We are now right in the middle of the pupal phase. The earliest should start to emerge this week, and the latest (in Sussex) will hold on until mid July. Further north and at later sites timings will naturally lag, but perhaps not as much as usual, with the cold spring seemingly evening things up to some degree.
None of the early sites have kicked off yet.
There was a report from Ditchling of a PE on the wing on the 23rd, but we’re putting this down to a high flying red admiral. I visited the following day and saw nothing - apart from high flying red ads and lots of black hairstreak egg laying in my favourite secluded spot - Max will light this area up with larvae come spring. Unfortunately BC have picked up this Ditchling record so it seems to have gone down as a national 1st, but we can ignore that.
I have now conducted several further pupae searches using UV and have to backtrack somewhat on the conclusions I drew a week or so ago.
I have located pupae in areas where they were not 10 days ago. The reason is obvious - back then they were still non fluorescing L5 cats.
Most pleasingly I have found the pupae of Corrina, Lily, X5 and X10, having lost track of them at L4 or L5. Rather humbling, as I searched hard for each and every one, and although I didn’t think they’d been predated, I was sure they’d gone further than they actually had. Even more humbling, I located another pupa on the same tree as X10, only a couple of metres from X10 and completely new to me!
Add to these a further 3 new pupae from trees that had been scanned for dangling leaves in autumn, but were inaccessible so weren’t searched thoroughly through winter, and I now have a grand total of 10 wild pupae under observation and Skinny Moo in captivity following the Tachinid attack.
This sounds like a big jump from the 3 that I had before the UV searches, but 4 were already known to me, so only 4 were genuinely new additions. Given that the entire area has now been re-searched using a method with a very high chance of locating anything that may be there, I’m entirely confident these numbers are a true reflection of the population at this site. As I’ve said before, the surrounding area contains blocks of woodland that will supply extra individuals during the flight season, but the overall population here must be extremely small - perhaps little more than 30 individuals. But I think this is a poor year, perhaps really poor, so I expect pupae numbers to be much higher than this when we have a good year, or run of good years.
Having located 3 pupae each year using good old field skills, I was already gradually gaining access to a largely unknown area of iris ecology. With the addition of the UV method we’re into completely new territory altogether. With the location of so many pupae now easily discoverable, we can collect real data on a subject where previously there were only theories and best guesses.
Thankfully (for someone who puts so much time into fieldwork) the best data will be gathered when the UV method is used in addition to the traditional field skills. Of course used in isolation it will be possible to find pupae, but the most interesting data will be achieved when it is used to help keep track of that which is already being monitored. We have often wondered how far caterpillars travel to pupate, for example, and struggling to relocate them has led us to believe that this is probably quite some distance, as with other species. It is certainly true that they can reach any part of their tree if so motivated, but looking at the emerging data now, it seems far more likely that more often than not they find a suitable site fairly close (within a few metres) to their final feeding position. I suppose this should be expected - a species living at such low density is only concerned about locating the right spot and the quality of this site must be balanced against the dangers of a long journey. With no need to disperse (as with gregarious or high density species) it is far better to prepare for pupation whilst beautifully camouflaged on the underside of a leaf than while marching through the foliage.
I’ll add now some photos of pupae in context as well as a few other snaps from around the woods.
We are now right in the middle of the pupal phase. The earliest should start to emerge this week, and the latest (in Sussex) will hold on until mid July. Further north and at later sites timings will naturally lag, but perhaps not as much as usual, with the cold spring seemingly evening things up to some degree.
None of the early sites have kicked off yet.
There was a report from Ditchling of a PE on the wing on the 23rd, but we’re putting this down to a high flying red admiral. I visited the following day and saw nothing - apart from high flying red ads and lots of black hairstreak egg laying in my favourite secluded spot - Max will light this area up with larvae come spring. Unfortunately BC have picked up this Ditchling record so it seems to have gone down as a national 1st, but we can ignore that.
I have now conducted several further pupae searches using UV and have to backtrack somewhat on the conclusions I drew a week or so ago.
I have located pupae in areas where they were not 10 days ago. The reason is obvious - back then they were still non fluorescing L5 cats.
Most pleasingly I have found the pupae of Corrina, Lily, X5 and X10, having lost track of them at L4 or L5. Rather humbling, as I searched hard for each and every one, and although I didn’t think they’d been predated, I was sure they’d gone further than they actually had. Even more humbling, I located another pupa on the same tree as X10, only a couple of metres from X10 and completely new to me!
Add to these a further 3 new pupae from trees that had been scanned for dangling leaves in autumn, but were inaccessible so weren’t searched thoroughly through winter, and I now have a grand total of 10 wild pupae under observation and Skinny Moo in captivity following the Tachinid attack.
This sounds like a big jump from the 3 that I had before the UV searches, but 4 were already known to me, so only 4 were genuinely new additions. Given that the entire area has now been re-searched using a method with a very high chance of locating anything that may be there, I’m entirely confident these numbers are a true reflection of the population at this site. As I’ve said before, the surrounding area contains blocks of woodland that will supply extra individuals during the flight season, but the overall population here must be extremely small - perhaps little more than 30 individuals. But I think this is a poor year, perhaps really poor, so I expect pupae numbers to be much higher than this when we have a good year, or run of good years.
Having located 3 pupae each year using good old field skills, I was already gradually gaining access to a largely unknown area of iris ecology. With the addition of the UV method we’re into completely new territory altogether. With the location of so many pupae now easily discoverable, we can collect real data on a subject where previously there were only theories and best guesses.
Thankfully (for someone who puts so much time into fieldwork) the best data will be gathered when the UV method is used in addition to the traditional field skills. Of course used in isolation it will be possible to find pupae, but the most interesting data will be achieved when it is used to help keep track of that which is already being monitored. We have often wondered how far caterpillars travel to pupate, for example, and struggling to relocate them has led us to believe that this is probably quite some distance, as with other species. It is certainly true that they can reach any part of their tree if so motivated, but looking at the emerging data now, it seems far more likely that more often than not they find a suitable site fairly close (within a few metres) to their final feeding position. I suppose this should be expected - a species living at such low density is only concerned about locating the right spot and the quality of this site must be balanced against the dangers of a long journey. With no need to disperse (as with gregarious or high density species) it is far better to prepare for pupation whilst beautifully camouflaged on the underside of a leaf than while marching through the foliage.
I’ll add now some photos of pupae in context as well as a few other snaps from around the woods.
- New to science
- Discovered via UV
- Corrina who gave me the slip
- X5 who gave me the slip
- X10 who gave me the slip
- New to science - should have found this one
- WA
- Common but with 1k+ in a small area they make a beautiful woodland scene
- Pupae search
- Must admit I find the day time more relaxing!
- Genuinely good spot the pupa to finish. This is Lily, making herself clearly visible, but still very difficult to pick out amongst the thousands of small cinerea leaves. The huge caprea leaves are so much easier to search as I’m sure I’ve banged on about before.
Last edited by Benjamin on Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Neil Hulme
- Posts: 3590
- Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:27 pm
Re: Benjamin
Great stuff, Ben. The UV searches are going to prove a giant leap forward in understanding this (and other) species.
What a shame that BC accepted such tenuous 'evidence' for the first emergence date of iris. When the first appearance dates of a host of other midsummer species (phenological comparisons) and observations of both wild and captive 'early stages' are taken into consideration, it was rather obvious that the Purple Emperor could not be out on 23 June this year. Why would this eagerly awaited event leap-frog ahead of so many others? I know several people who have already wasted many hours on fruitless searches, when they could have been enjoying the first flush of the gorgeous White Admiral!
I was at Ditchling Common that day (23 June) and saw a couple of pairs of Red Admiral chasing over the oaks; every year, these boys fool the over-optimistic observer. My advice is to start looking in earnest on 1 July; I think your own projection of 2 July may prove very close to the real deal.
BWs, Neil
What a shame that BC accepted such tenuous 'evidence' for the first emergence date of iris. When the first appearance dates of a host of other midsummer species (phenological comparisons) and observations of both wild and captive 'early stages' are taken into consideration, it was rather obvious that the Purple Emperor could not be out on 23 June this year. Why would this eagerly awaited event leap-frog ahead of so many others? I know several people who have already wasted many hours on fruitless searches, when they could have been enjoying the first flush of the gorgeous White Admiral!
I was at Ditchling Common that day (23 June) and saw a couple of pairs of Red Admiral chasing over the oaks; every year, these boys fool the over-optimistic observer. My advice is to start looking in earnest on 1 July; I think your own projection of 2 July may prove very close to the real deal.
BWs, Neil
Re: Benjamin
Many thanks for the other day Ben, certainly one of the highlights of the season for me.
I am going to try my luck this coming Friday 2nd July. If the PE. does appear about then
they will be back to their more traditional time rather than late.
Bring it on !, stay well,
Trevor.
I am going to try my luck this coming Friday 2nd July. If the PE. does appear about then
they will be back to their more traditional time rather than late.
Bring it on !, stay well,
Trevor.
Re: Benjamin
I have to admire your tenacity, Ben, especially regarding your success in finding pupae. All we need now are a few adults to reward all your hard work.
Speaking of hard work, have you any idea how many hours you've put in this year with this research?
Speaking of hard work, have you any idea how many hours you've put in this year with this research?
Re: Benjamin
Thanks Neil - yesterday (2nd) certainly felt like kick off with Knepp, Bookham, Epping and Oversley delivering first sightings - unfortunately for my prediction I hadn’t counted on Dave Cook sneaking one out in heavy cloud at Ditchling on the 29th!
A pleasure to meet up Trevor, especially as I’ve been a lot more focused on a few particular species this year and so am not bumping into people as much as usual. I know the PE season is a highlight for many, and although I’m expecting a poor year in terms of numbers, we all know that a single moment of magic with this species can wipe out weeks, or even years of disappointment in an instant, and regardless of numbers, if you’re in the woods at the right time then that encounter is always potentially just around the corner…..
Of course I may be wrong about it being a poor season - fingers crossed!
Thanks again David - although UV makes finding pupae exceptionally easy, it’s still quite difficult to use it to gather good data. You need to locate each pupa almost as soon as it appears, as they often seem to be predated early, so if you’re a few days late you may miss it. So knowing exactly when they’re starting to pupate, and then surveying regularly throughout the following month is necessary to be able to get a good idea of numbers and rate of predation. That’s quite a lot of commitment given that it has to happen in the middle of the night.
Obviously once you’re sure there are no more cats to turn, you can keep track (when predated/emerged) of known pupae throughout the day, and it becomes a bit more manageable.
In terms of time in the field dedicated to PE early stages - I guess something like 50 days this year (since August). I think I might be able to scale this back a bit going forward - my commitment has always been motivated by wanting to be as thorough as possible, but now with the addition of the UV searches during the pupation phase, anything I’ve missed will likely be picked up at this point, so locating every caterpillar in autumn/winter is no longer so crucial.
So we’re kicked off, but it may be a long emergence - as evidenced by a most unexpected find a couple of days ago. She will pupate today (3rd) and most likely not emerge until the last week in July (if she makes it).
So a month of fresh individuals - if you can find them…….
A pleasure to meet up Trevor, especially as I’ve been a lot more focused on a few particular species this year and so am not bumping into people as much as usual. I know the PE season is a highlight for many, and although I’m expecting a poor year in terms of numbers, we all know that a single moment of magic with this species can wipe out weeks, or even years of disappointment in an instant, and regardless of numbers, if you’re in the woods at the right time then that encounter is always potentially just around the corner…..
Of course I may be wrong about it being a poor season - fingers crossed!
Thanks again David - although UV makes finding pupae exceptionally easy, it’s still quite difficult to use it to gather good data. You need to locate each pupa almost as soon as it appears, as they often seem to be predated early, so if you’re a few days late you may miss it. So knowing exactly when they’re starting to pupate, and then surveying regularly throughout the following month is necessary to be able to get a good idea of numbers and rate of predation. That’s quite a lot of commitment given that it has to happen in the middle of the night.
Obviously once you’re sure there are no more cats to turn, you can keep track (when predated/emerged) of known pupae throughout the day, and it becomes a bit more manageable.
In terms of time in the field dedicated to PE early stages - I guess something like 50 days this year (since August). I think I might be able to scale this back a bit going forward - my commitment has always been motivated by wanting to be as thorough as possible, but now with the addition of the UV searches during the pupation phase, anything I’ve missed will likely be picked up at this point, so locating every caterpillar in autumn/winter is no longer so crucial.
So we’re kicked off, but it may be a long emergence - as evidenced by a most unexpected find a couple of days ago. She will pupate today (3rd) and most likely not emerge until the last week in July (if she makes it).
So a month of fresh individuals - if you can find them…….
- July cats are standard but as L1 not L5!
Re: Benjamin
When I’m not in the field with PE I’m usually chest high in stinging nettles. I’m keeping a close eye on small tortoiseshells and peacocks this year, as mentioned before, and am making good progress. I don’t set out to photograph adults much, but sometimes they’re irresistible. The 30th of June was one such day where I seemed to stumble upon stunning individuals. I’m not sure if it’s the excessive number of nettle stings (I don’t even attempt to avoid them any more) or perhaps the lack of sleep due to UV searches, but sometimes I find that freshly emerged butterflies are almost too stunning to process. It can be a strange experience - I often don’t seem to know how to respond, and the rush of emotion can be quite unsettling. These are the moments that manage to cut through and awaken something deep within us. Other people find the inspiration for similar experiences in other places, but for me it has always been butterflies.
Like many I’m desperate for foreign travel to open again, but honestly i could be perfectly content until the end of my days with just my local nettles, and the butterflies they support.
Like many I’m desperate for foreign travel to open again, but honestly i could be perfectly content until the end of my days with just my local nettles, and the butterflies they support.
- Not quite so fresh
- PL and RA larvae also present in good numbers
Re: Benjamin
This one was unusual for a number of reasons. She was by far my most adventurous caterpillar - spending L1-3 in the white circle, travelling up into the blue circle for L4-5 before eventually crossing to the adjacent birch to pupate at the green blob.
I relocated her high up at L4 with bins, but then completely lost her when she next moved. Obviously I can’t be 100% sure that Hollis Brown didn’t end up predated, or somewhere else completely and this high up L4 wasn’t another caterpillar, but it’s a natural route up into the blue circle and I was expecting her to go as she was rapidly running out of suitable feeding options low down. I was happy at the time that it was her, and if so, then it’s most likely she survived and crossed to the birch to pupate as suggested.
As I thought anyway, and the UV searches have confirmed, these trees rarely host more that one or two post hibernation larvae, so if you lose one from one part of the tree, and soon after locate a new one at a better feeding location in the same tree, then it’s very likely to be the same cat.
Finding pupae on anything other than sallow is rare (I think Heslop and maybe Guy had one each?) but this is clearly more to do with the difficulty of finding any pupae at all, and not a true reflection of the rarity of the occurrence. Where branches of different trees intertwine with sallow hosting larvae, it’ll happen from time to time as you’d expect.
Re: Benjamin
Now I understand why you are such a master of your craft. That's a staggering investment and one which I hope is rewarded with several adult Emperors very, very soon.Benjamin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 4:47 am...In terms of time in the field dedicated to PE early stages - I guess something like 50 days this year (since August). I think I might be able to scale this back a bit going forward - my commitment has always been motivated by wanting to be as thorough as possible, but now with the addition of the UV searches during the pupation phase, anything I’ve missed will likely be picked up at this point, so locating every caterpillar in autumn/winter is no longer so crucial.
Re: Benjamin
No sign of imago, yet?
BR, Jon
BR, Jon
Re: Benjamin
Hi Jon - yes - I’ve gone a bit quiet just when the climax of the season is upon us! To be honest, I’ve been largely preoccupied with other species of late - particularly my investigations into the nettle feeders and their associated parasitoid complex.
If there’s one time for me to switch off from PE then it’s during the flight season - there are always plenty of eyes out there reporting every PE sighting in great detail!
Of course I have spent my fair share of days doing the same this year, but haven’t reported on them as nothing particularly interesting has happened.
But I should round up the season at my site, so I will…….
If there’s one time for me to switch off from PE then it’s during the flight season - there are always plenty of eyes out there reporting every PE sighting in great detail!
Of course I have spent my fair share of days doing the same this year, but haven’t reported on them as nothing particularly interesting has happened.
But I should round up the season at my site, so I will…….
Re: Benjamin
After a couple of weeks of regular night time pupae searches via UV I ended up with 13 pupae across the entire site.
8 of these were predated, 5 emerged. What predates them I don’t know, but I plan to find out with trail cameras next year. Up until now pupae have been too difficult to locate to hope to find one close enough to a suitable place to mount a trail cam, but now with so many more to work with, I’m sure I can find something that works. My guess is either dormouse or squirrel but I’ll open a book nearer the time….
The five that emerged were X2, Hollis Brown, and 3 found only after UV searches.
X2 had been one of my favourites, and happened to be in an easy to monitor low hanging spray, so I put some effort into trying to see him emerge. I spent an afternoon and an evening camped by his side, but he refused to make the final push. By early evening he seemed fully coloured up and showing obvious splits in his pupal case. I worried for him a little at this point, as every other species I’ve monitored emerges as soon as the pupal case splits at the seams, and if they don’t, there is an issue and they perish.
The next morning I had commitments at home, and as chasing off to once again stare at what I thought may very well be a failed pupa wasn’t ever going to cut it as an exceptional circumstance worthy of excusing me from family duties, I resigned myself to missing this particular event, if indeed there was to be an event at all.
After investing so much time to this point, however, It is hard to switch off completely, and when a window of a few hours opened up around lunch time I was quickly heading back for a final check.
X2 was waiting for me on his pupal case, still drying his wings, having emerged no more than 30mins prior to my arrival.
I was very pleased to find him, and not particularly bothered about missing the moment. He presented a chance at some drone footage that I had hoped I’d be able to attempt this year. The plan was to fly in to a woodland from height, film a freshly emerged purple emperor basking before the 1st flight, and then disappear again high over the trees - a great way to show such an elusive butterfly in a completely natural setting. I had a go and it turned out very amateurish! The season has been so busy, and drone footage so hard to get right, that I’d become badly out of practice with the drone - so when the perfect opportunity arose I was unable to take advantage of it. All the various settings were wrong, and the flight was very jerky. But I did get some footage, and although it wouldn’t win any prizes for execution, the idea is good, and in terms of drone footage of freshly emerged purple emperors it’s certainly got to be up there! I’m pretty sure the only competition is my abandoned flight 5 mins previous where I crashed into a tree and had to hurriedly replace a propeller blade.
So here it is - better than nothing but room for improvement next year (make sure you play it in 1080p HD or whatever the best is):
https://youtu.be/YmTSGzvrnF4
As if to make up for eclosing before I arrived X2 was exceptionally generous in his behaviour for the next hour or so. He allowed me some close up filming on his spray (pre drone attempt) and then, post drone, fluttered a short way up the ride onto some sunlit bracken and posed for me before finally flying up and away. Whilst sunning himself on bracken he was completely comfortable with my presence and allowed me to photograph him from every angle. Once I’d filled my memory card with images that weren’t quite right (one of my specialities) I invited him onto my finger. He seemed happy enough to oblige, even allowing me to return him to the bracken to continue sunning himself pre take off.
It was a wonderful couple of hours from my side - from his I guess in his own way he must’ve wondered what this strange monkey and its flying robot were all about, and i don’t blame him - I do too from time to time.
8 of these were predated, 5 emerged. What predates them I don’t know, but I plan to find out with trail cameras next year. Up until now pupae have been too difficult to locate to hope to find one close enough to a suitable place to mount a trail cam, but now with so many more to work with, I’m sure I can find something that works. My guess is either dormouse or squirrel but I’ll open a book nearer the time….
The five that emerged were X2, Hollis Brown, and 3 found only after UV searches.
X2 had been one of my favourites, and happened to be in an easy to monitor low hanging spray, so I put some effort into trying to see him emerge. I spent an afternoon and an evening camped by his side, but he refused to make the final push. By early evening he seemed fully coloured up and showing obvious splits in his pupal case. I worried for him a little at this point, as every other species I’ve monitored emerges as soon as the pupal case splits at the seams, and if they don’t, there is an issue and they perish.
After investing so much time to this point, however, It is hard to switch off completely, and when a window of a few hours opened up around lunch time I was quickly heading back for a final check.
X2 was waiting for me on his pupal case, still drying his wings, having emerged no more than 30mins prior to my arrival.
I was very pleased to find him, and not particularly bothered about missing the moment. He presented a chance at some drone footage that I had hoped I’d be able to attempt this year. The plan was to fly in to a woodland from height, film a freshly emerged purple emperor basking before the 1st flight, and then disappear again high over the trees - a great way to show such an elusive butterfly in a completely natural setting. I had a go and it turned out very amateurish! The season has been so busy, and drone footage so hard to get right, that I’d become badly out of practice with the drone - so when the perfect opportunity arose I was unable to take advantage of it. All the various settings were wrong, and the flight was very jerky. But I did get some footage, and although it wouldn’t win any prizes for execution, the idea is good, and in terms of drone footage of freshly emerged purple emperors it’s certainly got to be up there! I’m pretty sure the only competition is my abandoned flight 5 mins previous where I crashed into a tree and had to hurriedly replace a propeller blade.
So here it is - better than nothing but room for improvement next year (make sure you play it in 1080p HD or whatever the best is):
https://youtu.be/YmTSGzvrnF4
As if to make up for eclosing before I arrived X2 was exceptionally generous in his behaviour for the next hour or so. He allowed me some close up filming on his spray (pre drone attempt) and then, post drone, fluttered a short way up the ride onto some sunlit bracken and posed for me before finally flying up and away. Whilst sunning himself on bracken he was completely comfortable with my presence and allowed me to photograph him from every angle. Once I’d filled my memory card with images that weren’t quite right (one of my specialities) I invited him onto my finger. He seemed happy enough to oblige, even allowing me to return him to the bracken to continue sunning himself pre take off.
Re: Benjamin
On Thursday the 15th of July I teamed up with Terry Goble to lead a Greenwings tour targeting woodland butterflies and particularly purple emperor.
We first visited Southwater Woods to release Skinny Moo - the caterpillar I had adopted to check to see if she would survive the tachinid attack. She did, and was now a freshly emerged adult ready to be returned.
This was a good start, and as I was quite sure that PE would be very difficult to see here, did at least give some good photo opportunities, albeit with a released individual. Woodland butterflies are always fantastic in these beautiful woods, and as I’d secured special permission to go off-piste, we were able to enjoy some particularly prime spots for SWF and WA.
We then travelled a small distance to another wood where I was able to show the group PE pupae, and discuss the ecology in detail.
After lunch we enjoyed the purple emperor trail at knepp, and stopped for some time at various territories to enjoy text book aerial combat with up to four males displaying wonderfully.
Knepp delivers far more than just butterflies of course, but I tended to leave that to Terry. Something to do with failed beaver fences, ‘wild’ farm animals, strange white birds and lakes full of squawking flapping things that all look the same (reminded me of several days on the Danube delta with a group of birders some years ago - the promise of a brief stop on land to enjoy Freyer’s PE just about saving me from donating myself to the creatures that live on the delta riverbed).
We finished off early evening with a most unexpected grounded male PE, and superb views of males at a sap run. Matthew Oates joined in for a welcome cameo - the only thing missing was an encounter with the main man Mr Hulme - I’m sure he was close, but we didn’t quite track him down.
We first visited Southwater Woods to release Skinny Moo - the caterpillar I had adopted to check to see if she would survive the tachinid attack. She did, and was now a freshly emerged adult ready to be returned.
- Photo by Harry Faull
- Photo by Harry Faull
We then travelled a small distance to another wood where I was able to show the group PE pupae, and discuss the ecology in detail.
After lunch we enjoyed the purple emperor trail at knepp, and stopped for some time at various territories to enjoy text book aerial combat with up to four males displaying wonderfully.
Knepp delivers far more than just butterflies of course, but I tended to leave that to Terry. Something to do with failed beaver fences, ‘wild’ farm animals, strange white birds and lakes full of squawking flapping things that all look the same (reminded me of several days on the Danube delta with a group of birders some years ago - the promise of a brief stop on land to enjoy Freyer’s PE just about saving me from donating myself to the creatures that live on the delta riverbed).
We finished off early evening with a most unexpected grounded male PE, and superb views of males at a sap run. Matthew Oates joined in for a welcome cameo - the only thing missing was an encounter with the main man Mr Hulme - I’m sure he was close, but we didn’t quite track him down.
- Photo by Harry Faull
Re: Benjamin
Fantastic images Ben 
- I'm really glad Skinny Moo made it 
Will you be having a break before starting next years study?
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
- I'm really glad Skinny Moo made it Will you be having a break before starting next years study? Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Re: Benjamin
I thoroughly enjoyed your drone footage, and the superb June 2020 video of the emerging female PE.
How many people have been present when the pupae starts to split open ?, especially in the wild.
Epic stuff, Ben.
Keep well,
Trevor.
PS. Good to see you at Chiddingfold the other day.
How many people have been present when the pupae starts to split open ?, especially in the wild.
Epic stuff, Ben.
Keep well,
Trevor.
PS. Good to see you at Chiddingfold the other day.
Re: Benjamin
A treasure of a report Ben.
for the purple emperor photos
For the video. I felt like I was there next to the the PE
for Skinny Moo
for the purple emperor photos For the video. I felt like I was there next to the the PE for Skinny Moo
Re: Benjamin
A significant improvement to my own HIM season so plenty of these winging their way to you . Finding a freshly emerged male would be a dream come true for anyone. If I lived closer to Bookham I'm sure I'd be spending many a night in early June scaring local wildlife and causing reports of UFO's to appear in local media with UV torches!
. Finding a freshly emerged male would be a dream come true for anyone. If I lived closer to Bookham I'm sure I'd be spending many a night in early June scaring local wildlife and causing reports of UFO's to appear in local media with UV torches!Some addictions are good for the soul!