Purple Patch Begins
On Monday (28th June) Hannah and I headed for Southwater Woods, eager to kick-off the Purple Emperor season. The woods were now bulging at the seams with butterflies, and it didn't take long to notch up 50+ White Admirals and c.30 Silver-washed Fritillaries.
We had not long started before I saw the first of two
valezina SWFs, which are far from common in Sussex. Wading through the piles of brash, generated by recent 'thinning' works, was not easy, and a stealthy approach proved almost impossible.
Valezina heats up very quickly, so prefers these shadier areas, and she wasn't go to make things easy for me by breaking cover. After missing a shot of a pristine specimen last year, I could see frustration and disappointment looming. In the end dogged determination won the day, and at the cost of cuts, grazes and bites I finally got some nice images, before she drifted up into the canopy to find respite from the rapidly building heat of the day.
A BC buddy of mine wandered over, to say that he had just seen an Emperor on the main pathway, although it had only 'put down' momentarily. When a salt-searching male has failed in his quest, he will always descend again. So it was off to stake out the part of the ride garnished with the smelliest fox poo - we just followed our noses. It wasn't long before His Majesty made the first of several visits, giving us our first close-up views of the season.
The butterflies just kept on coming, with Hannah spotting a full
nigrina White Admiral while I was otherwise engaged. At 15.45 hrs we saw another Emperor - the first 2010 resident at the Madgeland Master Trees. It was doing what male Emperors enjoy most, and do best; beating up every passing Purple Hairstreak and Speckled Wood.
Having had a fantastic day in the woods we retired to celebrate the season in time-honoured tradition, at the picturesque 'George & Dragon' in Dragons Green.