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Purple Emperor – Favourite Photo of 2017

Week 13 – And so we come to the final posting of this series...for 2017 Happy New Year everyone, may 2018 be a better butterfly year all round

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

In context …
2017 turned out to be a very early season for many species of butterfly. My first sighting of iris this year came on Saturday, 17th June when I recorded three males and a female in Chiddingfold Forest. On the same day, a friend recorded four males in a nearby area of the same forestry complex. Our joint feelings were that they’d been out for a maximum of 48 hours. The earliest I’ve ever recorded iris is a sighting of a solitary individual on 12th June 2015. However, for whatever reason(s), that same year I didn’t see another in my local woodlands until 4th July. In my local patch at least, iris is certainly appearing at least two weeks earlier than would typically have been expected during the latter part of the last century.

The above male from 23rd June.

Wishing all UKB contributors a very happy and successful 2018.

With certain species, it is very difficult to choose one favourite photograph...I just couldn't choose between these two shots.
Bob Eade (Badger Bob) and I met up with Mark Colvin for a walk around his local patch during the last week of June. We enjoyed a memorable encounter with two freshly emerged females.


http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

Their early showing this year most likely caught a lot of people out who, like me, had booked the normal weeks off! 'Luckily' I came down with a case of shingles which kept me off work, but it was mostly painless and not anywhere that was on show so I was still able to go butterflying and thank god too, as they were falling out of the trees everywhere! I had some good results at Bookham and got my first ever proper Emperor experience, 'essence of bugboy' is a coveted treat it would seem

I'm highly envious of those who saw this species in 2017. This is one of only three UK butterflies I didn't see in 2017 (Scotch Argus & Black Hairstreak being the others).

My escapades in France fall right within peak PE emergence and the butterfly isn't present in the area of the Alps which I visit during late June/early July.

In spite of that, I thoroughly enjoy seeing images taken in the UK and can only wish I lived in an area where this magnificent insect is present.

For the time being, I'll have to dream.

I do not have a local PE site in the South of France, and so was chuffed to see a PE taking mineral salts in shingle next to a stream in the Savoie region in France.
July below Les Menuires around 1450 m: Chris

The Purple Emperor is a recent arrival in my part of the world (West Essex / Suffolk) and I was delighted to find that one of my local woods seems to have a decent colony. These two, equal favourites, were seen at Rowney Wood, Essex at the beginning of July this year.

Their early arrival this year meant I had booked the wrong days off work for seeing Purple Emperors. However, with retirement pending, I was on the receiving end of a bit of leeway from colleagues and managed a trip out on the 20th June and in beautiful weather. Down I went to Chiddingfold, meeting up with Trevor and Phil Underwood, and I have found I encapsulated the day's best sightings in a little triptych.I particularly like the individual peering down imperiously upon us mere mortals.
Dave

Here is an evening specimen I found whilst walking the dog in Alice Holt forest - she sat obediently, if somewhat impatiently, whilst I spent fifteen minutes taking photos
Kind Regards
Mark

although not a fabulous photo this captures one of my favourite butterfly moments during my trip to the south of France in August 2017. i was walking from Pomas towards Leuc along the Aude valley when my eye was caught by a neon flash 20 feet up in a tree. the woods were quite dark so this shone out like a beacon.
i had never seen Emperors in this part of the walk before so it came as a very pleasant surprise.
using extreme zoom i managed to take the photo.

Charles Nicol wrote:... this captures one of my favourite butterfly moments during my trip to the south of France in August 2017 ...

I hope it doesn’t spoil the memory of the moment to point out this is a lesser purple emperor, Charles. The ‘lesser’ bit doesn’t do justice to a magnificent butterfly.

I take far more pictures of purple emperors (caterpillars and eggs) than of any other species and I have literally hundreds to choose from to represent 2017. I'm plonking for this one just for fun, really. It's Wendy, on 5th June, hiding in plain sight:



Guy

hehe never mind ! thanks for the info Guy