His Imperial Majesty & Dogs

[Jack Harrison]

I once owned a copy of NOTES AND VIEWS OF THE PURPLE EMPEROR (Heslop, Hyde and Stockley).
Sadly it has gone missing (copies sell for a lot of money today).

I recall that one of the authors feared the extinction of the PE in Britain by the end of the 20th century. This didn’t of course happen and from my own limited experience plus more extensive experience of others (especially as recently reported on ukb), I could form the impression that the Purple Emperor is doing better in the early part of the 21st century than it has done for many decades.

Purple Emperor observers through the ages have been well aware of the males' habit of “enjoying” (what to humans anyway) are unsavoury snacks. There have been some "explicit" photos on ukb recently illustrating just this.

I have been unable to find whether the estimate of 8 to 10 million dogs in UK today represents an increase over the past 50 years. But what has become apparent to the most casual of observers is that dog owners are taking their dogs out – by car – into the countryside far more nowadays if for no other reason that more people have cars so CAN get out to the country. And of course, they leave evidence of their visits.

Dogs – certainly what they leave behind – are not always popular with butterfly enthusiasts. But could it be that in the case of His Imperial Majesty, dogs in fact confer some benefits?

Jack

[JKT]

I'll leave the dogs out of this, but both iris and ilia have spread rapidly in the southern Finland these last years. I would rather look for changes in weather conditions.

[Charles Nicol]

Dogs – certainly what they leave behind – are not always popular with butterfly enthusiasts. But could it be that in the case of His Imperial Majesty, dogs in fact confer some benefits?

Jack

One would not wish to pooh-pooh your theory Jack