Neil Hulme

[Neil Hulme]

23 June 2022

23 June was another day leading back-to-back safaris at the Knepp Wildland. My morning group got particularly lucky, when I returned to check an area of hard track we had passed over just five minutes before, in the hope that a Purple Emperor had sneaked down to collect salts; I was delighted to find not one, but two, sitting close together (last image by Matthew Oates). Even better, my fellow guide arrived with his group, so two dozen visitors managed to get up close and personal with our quarry, as the butterflies flew around us and re-settled.

[Neil Hulme]

24 June 2022

24 June proved to be a Purple Letter Day, as male Emperors, most in pristine or excellent condition, continually came to ground throughout the day at Knepp. With a day off from leading safaris, I spent many happy hours with one of the Wildland volunteers, Andrew, photographing these butterflies, which visited all of my seven belachan & pickled gourami baits at some point. I saw 16 on the deck, although many of these groundings involved one particularly obliging individual. Even better, the regular cloud cover meant they were keen to open their gorgeous wings.

A small party including Prebendary John Woolmer (who often blesses the rides and Purple Emperor season at Fermyn Wood) and his wife Jane, Nick Lear (who opens his beautiful East Sussex Knowlands Wood to the public) and Matthew Oates appeared at just the right time, as the day's star butterfly flew up to settle on ride-side vegetation, to wipe silt-balls from its proboscis ... divine intervention, perhaps?

[trevor]

The first image in your most recent post is about as good as it gets.

Gorgeous !.

Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Fantastic shots Neil I had plenty of Emperor sightings this year at Bentley Wood but not a single grounding

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Allan.W.]

I quite agree with Trevor .....................superb Neil ! After nearly 40 years of trying in my own local patch (Orlestone forest ) I found my own bit of "Purple Heaven" with 4 sightings of Emperors including 1 on the ground for nearly 15 minutes ,unfortunately it steadfastly refused to move away from a Fox dropping ,tight against a plant clump . Undoubtably my butterfly moments of 22,' in what has otherwise been a pretty poor butterfly year ! (for me at least ).
Regards Allan.W.

[bugboy]

Significantly better than my purple year, having only glimpsed them in the treetops once again and then work and the heat (I don't really function as a working human in temperatures over 30) curtailing the rest of my season so a few for your splendid series of posts.

[David M]

Mouth watering images, Neil. So pleased they have been tempted down a little more regularly this year.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Trevor. I was very happy with that image, although the shots on bramble were my own favourites, being much harder to achieve.

Thanks, Wurzel. Some days the critters just won't come down, but hopefully you'll be there on the 'right' day next season. Start saving those Brownie Points.

Thanks, Allan. I'd heard that Orlestone Forest was producing a few. A splash of belachan should tempt them away from unsightly poos. I even give my baited areas a going-over with a dustpan brush to remove any unwanted bits & pieces - I get some very strange looks from dog-walkers.

Hi Paul. I'm not sure whether you're into camping, but you could always pitch-up at the fabulous Knepp campsite for a day or two next season. When it gets too hot, a dip in the wild swimming pool will cool you down.

Thanks, David. I'm hoping for a repeat next year, as the 2022 grounding season is sadly now a distant memory. That said, they're still performing well in the air.

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

28 June 2022

28 June was another double safari day for me at Knepp, with the morning event focussing on butterflies. Again we got lucky, with a Purple Emperor down on a small and unappetising piece of dried cowpat. There was plenty going on up top too, with the combined number of sightings for Matthew and me now exceeding 60 for the day. A mating pair of Ringlet provided a brief distraction from the Emperors.

[Neil Hulme]

1 July 2022

With a day off from leading safaris at Knepp, I decided to spend the day at Knepp! I met a friend there, who was keen to see some Purple Emperors, and she spotted the first of the six grounded males seen. Some butterflies were now beginning to show signs of wear & tear.

I soon located a virgin Empress (my second of the season), sitting low in a sallow, but just too high to achieve any decent shots of her. A friend, Dom Greves (the last image in this sequence is his), turned up at just the right time, as a small group of us waited patiently for a sallow-searching male to find her. Eventually, the inevitable happened, but the ensuing courtship flight soon took them out of sight over the sallow jungle.

I didn't make any counts that day, but Matthew Oates tallied 69 individuals, despite being restricted to easier ground by his dodgy knee; he'll hopefully be getting a replacement before next season.

[bugboy]

Hi Neil, camping is fine by me and a dip in a cold lake would've been bliss earlier his wee! I do however have a friend who's recently started work at wild wood in Kent working with the captive reared Storks smongst other things and some trips to knepp have already been pencilled in

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Paul. If not before (I suspect we might meet over a rare migrant or two in the coming weeks), I look forward to seeing you at Knepp next year. Here's a recent image of some of our White Storks.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

5 July 2022

While leading a Knepp Wildland safari on the morning of 5 July, we were on the last leg of the walk and heading for home, having seen a reasonable number of Purple Emperors. As we emerged through a tunnel of sallows, I noticed a very dark butterfly sitting with closed wings on the bare clay of a vehicle track. I was just about to launch into my usual explanation of why the Peacock has such a dark underside, when it dawned on me that something wasn't quite as it seemed. After the briefest look through my binoculars, I got rather excited and asked my group to move no further, until I had secured a confirmatory image; I've never considered the scrublands of Knepp to be typical Large Tortoiseshell habitat, but this appeared to be what we were looking at!

I crept forward (image by Christine Combes) and as I approached the butterfly its wings suddenly flopped open, leaving no doubt as to its identity. My first two shots were blurred, due to shaky hands, but I managed two sharp images before it tore off in typical Large Tortoiseshell style. My group found it rather amusing that their guide had become so over-excited, while almost ignoring the three or four Purple Emperors which had now become very active just above our heads.

The Large Tortoiseshell had been sitting only about 30 metres from a large clump of Wych Elm, which supports one of the strongest colonies of White-letter Hairstreak at Knepp. The following day, Matthew Oates searched and found larval feeding damage on the tree. Over the following few days, others located a couple of female Large Tortoiseshells at Knepp (mine was a male), but I never managed any particularly good views or images of these individuals, other than a single underside shot.

A media frenzy ensued, and over the next few days a large number of both safari-goers and self-guided visitors managed to see these female butterflies, which remained faithful to a stunted Oak beside the main track running through the Southern Block. It took a while before we realised why they kept returning to this unpromising-looking location; they were feeding on sap bleeds in a similar manner to Purple Emperors, which themselves started to regularly show up here about a week later.

The Purple Emperor 'grounding season' was now coming to an end, with insufficient numbers to warrant continued baiting of the tracks. However, as always, there were a few exceptions and I hadn't seen my last decent male on the deck.

[trevor]

That's the icing I was referring to earlier. Magnificent!.
One of those camera fumbling moments when the brain is trying to process
what the eyes are seeing, and at the same time has to instruct the the fore finger
to press the shutter button. Been there!.

Great stuff!.
Trevor.

[bugboy]

What a beauty

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Trevor and Paul. Now bring on the LTB, QoS and Swallowtails, which should all arrive in numbers this late summer/autumn.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

6 & 7 July 2022

Good numbers of Purple Emperor were still being seen at Knepp, but for a while our focus shifted to the two female Large Tortoiseshells which were often being seen around a small Oak tree. They were regularly feeding on a couple of small sap runs inside the canopy, followed by periods sitting around either on sprays of Oak or on the adjacent hedgerow.

I was contacted by a friend who I rate as one of Britain's best 'butterflyers', but doesn't photograph, tweet or blog, preferring to work away below the radar and avoid any publicity. Over the past few years, he and a couple of friends have invested a huge amount of time in East Sussex, searching for and recording the Large Tortoiseshell as it attempts to re-establish itself in the UK. He reported that they were now seeing fresh adults (again), following recent discoveries of spring adults and larval webs. These sightings cover four discrete areas within an eight mile square. I'm sure that there are more out there, but few have the time or inclination required to search these things out; mine was pure luck!

It's always good to see Andrew Mitchell return to Knepp, as he always brings a few clearwing lures to hang out amongst the sallows. This provides the opportunity for safari guests to see these wonderful and quirky day-flying moths, with Lunar Hornet and Red-tipped Clearwing again on the menu. He also lured a Sallow Clearwing - a first for Knepp and this part of Sussex. The larvae of this species spend two years feeding within the wood of the host plant, meaning that adults are only seen in 'even' years, so won't emerge again until 2024.

[PhilM]

5 July 2022

I crept forward and as I approached the butterfly its wings suddenly flopped open, leaving no doubt as to its identity... ...before it tore off in typical Large Tortoiseshell style.

Hi Neil,

I think this is important news. It further suggests the Knepp approach to conservation is working with yet another species being attracted to the wild lands. Apart from the introduction of proxy megafauna nothing is being added or taken away, nature is being allowed to be it's own sculptor. Perhaps it is time to take a look at a popular mantra and refine it little - "Build It And They Will Come" would perhaps serve us better if it read "Leave It And They Will Come".

Terrific, thanks for sharing this,
Best wishes,
Phil.

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks, Phil. You are right in highlighting how beneficial the rewilding approach is in many (but certainly not all) circumstances. The Knepp butterfly fauna has grown from 15 species in 2005 to 37 species today ... quite incredible!

However, this 'hands-off' natural process-led approach isn't suitable for semi-natural habitats which have been created and maintained by our long history of intensive management, such as chalk grassland and lowland heath. If that philosophy was adopted for these habitat types, we'd soon lose Adonis Blue, Chalk Hill Blue, Silver-spotted Skipper, Silver-studded Blue, Smooth Snake, Sand Lizard etc. In effect, we have already rewilded our hazel coppice woodlands, after losing any commercial value for hazel - which is why we're losing Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Fringe-horned Mason Bee.

It's very much a case of 'horses for courses', but we certainly need to be rewilding much more of the British countryside, including low grade agricultural land, overgrazed uplands, deer-stalking and grouse-shooting moors.

BWs, Neil

[PhilM]

However, this 'hands-off' natural process-led approach isn't suitable for semi-natural habitats which have been created and maintained by our long history of intensive management, such as chalk grassland and lowland heath.

Oh I see, and I am beginning to understand. Conservation is complex isn't it, thank goodness for people like yourself and the various conservation organisations who know a lot more than the average person on this topic.

Thanks for explaining,
Phil.