PhilBWright

[Pauline]

Just catching up Phil and very envious of your experience with all those Purple Hairstreak. Treasure the memory as it doesn't happen very often. Congratulations too on your first ever Brown Hairstreak - well done!

[PhilBJohnson]

Thank you very much Mike, Wurzel and Pauline.
I have been spending some time improving some of my pictures, cropping, re-cropping, reducing noise etc thanks to some tips from Mike Oxon. I probably have been missing out but I don't think I took a single picture of a butterfly during August!
I have loads of photos to work with and I still need to do much work editing my video clips to produce something worth posting. Here are a couple more pictures I took during July with Rob Hill "egging me on"

Purple Emperor

Purple Emperors

Best Wishes,
Philip

[PhilBJohnson]

26.9.2014 Hibernating Peacock Butterfly

Last Friday (26.9.2014) I came across a hibernating Peacock Butterfly in the top corner of a concrete garage I was surveying and was still in the same position on Monday (yesterday). What was interesting about this, and might be a talking point was that it was approx. 20°C outside and sunny with Cabbage White butterflies still on the wing ! So Peacocks prefer to come out in March when the temperature is 15°C ! It just shows what a "strong body clock" Peacocks have and are well suited to hibernating with the English climate, unlike for example, the Camberwell Beauty which appears to respond completely differently. Maybe the Peacock was depressed after the buddleia stopped flowering ?
On a different note, I am still editing butterfly video clips which are going to keep me going through the autumn & winter. I don't want to quickly post something if I think I can do a better job taking my time editing the footage.
Here is a short sequence of video stills of a Purple Emperor chasing after a Purple Hairstreak taken at a distance of approx. 30 meters away, similar but not the same as what I have posted previously taken on or around 9th-14th July, late afternoon or evening. What I did find interesting was that the Purple Hairstreaks (outnumbering the Purple Emperors) often provoked the Purple Emperors first before a chase took place :

best wishes,
Philip

[PhilBJohnson]

Purple Hairstreak
I have just created a short Purple Hairstreak video consisting of small video clips and photo montages uploaded to youtube including dates, times and location etc.
Any comments are most welcome. Some tree canopy footage will follow in a separate video, I hope you enjoy.
Here is the uploaded youtube link:

http://youtu.be/8A3DMB2w814

best wishes,

Philip

[Goldie M]

Hi! Phil, first time I've seen a Purple Hair Streak, I liked the Video but it was a bit short Goldie

[PhilBJohnson]

Hi Goldie M
Thank you very much for your feedback comment. My raw video clips were originally quite a bit longer than shown in the submitted edited video. I did not want to make the viewer too "seasick" as my hands were shaking a bit when taking the footage, partly due to being a bit nervous in trying to capture an infrequent event. My digital camera does have some inbuilt image stabilisation which does help a bit. Purple Hairstreaks might not stay on the ground for very long unless there is something wrong with them so running around with a tripod was out of the question for me at that time.
I think Purple Hairstreaks can be quite common but usually congregate in Oak Tree Canopies so are often not seen by most people.
Here is a link to part 2 (My second Purple Hairstreak video)
http://youtu.be/DLn_qT2qpv0
The aim of this second video is to give some people a better understanding of this butterflies behaviour up in the tree canopy rather than to provide people with lots of pretty pictures (which is very difficult anyway when filming at such a distance with a digital SLR camera).
I hope you find it interesting. One should also should understand that the original video footage was hours long and has been compressed into about 2 minutes to try and keep ones attention.
On a hot clear sunny day in July as the sun goes down, canopy butterflies such as Purple Emperors and Purple Hairstreaks find themselves competing for the last sunny spot on the south west side of the tree canopy near the highest point on the hill. So at that time there is quite often conflict between the two species.
I have even more video footage of the Purple Emperors which once uploaded to youtube will eventually replace the 5 second long clip clip I submitted in 2013.
I have saved some of my best Purple Emperor Vs Purple Hairstreak footage for that video (not wanting to repeat too much)

Best Wishes,
Philip

[David M]

That footage is really fascinating, Phil. I especially like the early part where the Purple Emperor loses patience with those pesky Hairstreaks.

I've always wanted to find an area where there is raised ground by an oak so you can get close to all this activity and observe it from relatively close quarters. There's certainly a hell of a lot going on in your sequences.

Thanks for sharing.

[Goldie M]

Hi! Phil, loved the second Video, it must have been a great feeling getting this footage, I'm really green Goldie

[PhilBJohnson]

Thank you very much David M & Goldie M,
New Purple Emperor Part 3
I have just uploaded a short Purple Emperor Video I have been working on.

It represents about one third to one half of what I want to present. I have called it part 3 for the time being. It would probably be easier for me to submit it as 3 separate videos but I am not sure yet, I might just replace the existing uploaded video as I continue working on the raw footage. It is nice just to "get something out there" .
The aim of these videos is not to enlighten the experts but to present something to help the average person get a better understanding of this butterflies behaviour in the tree canopy after about 12:30pm
I intend to remove the 2013 clip I uploaded unless anyone objects.
The 18th July was the last day I recorded this butterfly at Bookham Common this year. Although it was seen for several days or even weeks after, I decided I had enough good footage. I filled about four 16GB SDHC cards with video clips, some of which were over 20 minutes long. I then used my camera to divide the raw clips (I am still doing this), saving the best bits and deleting the bits with nothing on before downloading to PC and using simple editing software to produce a finished version,
PLEASE ENJOY !

Philip

[Pauline]

Fantastic video footage Phil, especially PE with PH. Amazing - really enjoyed it

[Paul Wetton]

Excellent and different footage Phil. Enjoyed watching.

[MikeOxon]

I was also very interested to see your video of the PE vs PH confrontations. I remember watching similar behaviour in Bentley Wood many years ago. The PH seemed to rise up, like fighter aircraft, to intercept an over-flying PE. It seems that it's a competitive world up there in the tree-tops!

Mike

[Goldie M]

Phil, your video was fantastic, you lucky thing seeing the PE and filming them like that ( Fantastic)Goldie

[PhilBJohnson]

Thank you very much MikeOxon & Goldie M for your positive responses.
I have just uploaded to youtube my second Purple Emperor video.

Part 2 contains most of my Purple Emperor Vs Purple Hairstreak footage which wasn't shown in the Purple Hairstreak video.
The Purple Emperor involved was mostly the same individual on the 10th July, recognisable with a tiny nick out of its wing.
From my observations I noticed a good rotation of male butterflies from day to day holding territory in the canopy (pm).
In 2014 I didn't see more than 3 male Emperors at once chasing each other and there appeared to be no more than approx. half a dozen at once in a reasonably small area. My biggest regret has been not managing to film a dragonfly chase or more bird chases. These tend to happen at "break neck" speed. I was often left fumbling around with my camera while this happened.
I have been experimenting adding music but not included it yet when publishing it to the public. Some of the clips have the volume turned off as the listener probably doesn't want to hear the sound of me chewing gum the whole time !
As with all of my videos, if you spot something that is factually incorrect or needs editing please feel free to let me know and wipe the smile off my face ! I am a bit of a "one man band" with these videos and so am a bit prone to making mistakes and posting the publically. I will then of course do the necessary edits and replace the older video.
I have removed the link to my very short 2013 Purple Emperor video. I don't think many people will miss it !
I really hope you enjoy some of my humour at the end (with the volume turned up).
Part one is to follow with some big zooms starting on 18th June. The Purple Emperor was first seen at Bookham on 17th June in 2014 (my birthday) as recorded by Rob Hill.
best wishes,
Philip

[David M]

Great footage, Phil. Sharp and highly professional.

[PhilBJohnson]

Thanks David.
I am going to "chill out" for a bit now as Part One is going to take a while putting together properly anyway because of some of my naive mistakes and for technical reasons.
Thanks Paul Wetton.
I visited your website and bought your butterfly DVDs. I am sure I will learn a lot from them. I think it always helps having a nice picture of a Purple Emperor next to the "Buy Button", doesn't it?
Thanks Pauline.
It's been a while since we communicated much online. It all got a bit hectic in the summer with not much of a "June butterfly gap" this year compared to last. Keep up your butterfly diary, please, even if you post less frequently.
Thanks Mike Flemming
I also loved browsing your website. Superb pictures & I always get a sense of generosity coming from you.
Cheers,

Philip

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Philip

I noticed you'd purchased a copy and thanks for that. It will be winging its way to you in a couple of days.
If you ever have any questions regarding filming please feel free to contact me on email. Always happy to answer any questions if I can.
Keep up the good work.

[Maximus]

Great videos Philip, I have really enjoyed watching them

Mike

[PhilBJohnson]

Thank you Mike, Paul and everyone else for all of your kind comments.
With the video footage I ended up having two SLR Cameras with me.
One was set up on a tripod second guessing where the Emperors were going to appear, just letting it run, adjusting the zoom occasionally to try and get some better action. The second was hand held, trying to get some decent pictures.
I think that probably the most interesting thing about my videos is the way I have combined the fixed pictures & video stills with the moving footage. I also think that my work is probably a good example of what can be achieved with an SLR Camera set on maybe not quite the best settings! I am sure there are several experts out there looking at my footage and smiling realising they can do quite a bit better with even more specialised equipment and software. And I am pleased if I can inspire others to do better.
Getting the footage was quite time consuming and as I am quite tall, trying to avoid "Purple Emperor Neck" was a problem. One thing that I tried which worked quite well was putting some homemade leg extensions on my tripod giving me the ability to set it up at about 1.7-1.9m high. Anything less would have given me "Purple Emperor Back" as well!
Best wishes,
Philip

[Maximus]

You have done brilliantly well with the camera equipment and video editing software at your disposal Philip, in capturing the great footage of the PE and PH producing something refreshingly different, miles away from the norm, great stuff

Mike