Calendar

THURSDAY 2ND JULY:Paul Brock saw at least 5 Purple Emperor at Bentley Wood, Hampshire on a hot day where several purple admirers congregated. Before 9am in the car park, Mark Pike had already found an admirer, which settled on his backpack, Nikon and fleece. Well who can blame the butterfly, he was sweating a little, having walked a mile and a half from West Dean railway station! After half an hour the butterfly had enough.......others flew high up in trees by the Switchback, but often came to the ground sometimes for up to about 30 minutes to take nourishment from dung, or from soil, but mostly only too briefly. Once or twice one landed low down on bracken. At times, they opened their wings and camera shutters were quickly pressed in the hope of an all purple image! Just before 12am, one male expressed an interest in a silver vehicle bonnet in the car park, all too soon it was time to depart. I wonder what turned up in the afternoon?

Little to report today, as I again spent it helping the Beeb Nat Hist Unit film PEs in Alice. We've got some serious stuff in the can: stupendous 'sallow searching', serial Violence around the Goose Green territory, lots of landing and taking off (they land with a sideways backward flip), a brief bit of courtship, and best of all the disembodiment of a freshly emerged Painted Lady....

Off to Northants now, to film the ultimate Emperor's Breakfast + Mike Dilger....I have now spent 8 days viewing PEs from on high in a cherry picker, and have yet to see one feeding on honeydew or otherwise probing on a leaf for sustenance. Looks like a big myth. How marvellous!

'For he on honey-dew hath fed, and drunk the milk of Paradise' (Coleridge, under the influence of 2 grains of opium).

Matthew.

Beeb team filming Oates purchasing esoteric cuisine for the Emperor's Breakfast (picture taken shortly before the police arrived...) ('Ullo, 'ullo, 'ullo, what's all this then?)

Ab. iole, Straits Inclosure. By rights Ken Willmott should have landed these shots ahead of Matthew. Oates should now be known as The Blessed Oates for the rest of the season.

WEDNESDAY 1ST JULY:Having failed to see Matthew's iole at Alice Holt on 30 June (although there was plenty of great PE action) I headed home, as I had one or two mundane matters to deal with. As I passed through Midhurst I was suddenly overcome with the urge to see more Emperors. A quick diversion to Botany Bay, a sprint through the woods on my Japanese Commuter Bicycle, and I was back on the butterflies. Although it was well past 5 pm there was still plenty going on both in the air and on

the deck. 3 different males were working one ride, and I spent some time chatting to local enthusiast Nick Broomer, as we stalked them between doggy poos.

I was in the process of leaving at 6.30 pm when I spotted a newly emerged female Emperor drying off in the long grass, just below a sallow. We spent some time watching her as she made her first clumsy attempts at flight. At least she would avoid the attentions of the amorous males that had just retired for the night. I doubt that her virginity would have lasted until noon today.

This season's must-have accessory for the Lady or Gentleman of Purple is the Japanese Commuter Bicycle. These allow rapid (although quite dangerous) transportation between Emperors. The 'now-Purple' Hannah

joined me at Botany Bay on 29 June, to test how effective and dangerous they are - highly. We had 5 males on the deck, one of which Hannah delicately teased onto her finger.

The remarkable run of dark aberrations this year continued, with our sighting of an extreme ocellata Silver-washed Fritillary. Dark Emperors, White Admirals and Commas are showing up with regularity on many sites across the South of England.

In the heat of the day many Emperors are sitting around twiddling their tarsal joints. However, as the afternoons cool off quite a few of these butterflies are coming to ground again - so don't restrict yourself to the classical 9-11am period for photo opportunities.NEIL HULME

Planning and leading field trips for Butterfly Conservation members can be fraught with difficulties, not least due to the vagaries of the British weather, and seasonal variations in the timing of emergence. However, the outing I led to Botany Bay on the Sussex/Surrey border on 28 June 2009 will forever be remembered as the 'perfect job'! I had billed the event as an opportunity to see iris up close and personal.

20 participants congregated at the meeting point; all hopeful of seeing Him, with 8 never having had the pleasure previously. I lay down a couple of 'Hau Loc' belachan baits just inside the main gate at 8.55 hrs. At 8.58 hrs a pristine male descended to sample the pungent shrimp sauce, and as the outing started, 8 people became 'Purple'. Soon a ring of bodies surrounded the Emperor, who seemed oblivious as he overloaded on salts.

From then on things just got better and better. The entire party saw 5 individual, scale-perfect males on the deck that morning, with some coming to ground on more than one occasion. One of the party walked a little further into the woods and saw another 2. Those that stayed on into the afternoon were treated to an eight different butterfly.

I will be repeating the walk next year.

Helping BBC Nat Hist Unit film piece on Iris for a forthcoming 1 hour BBC2 prog on British Butts. Now, we believe strongly that the PE bit must be the best part of the hour, so I'm under Maximum Pressure to ensure that happens..... Transmission: winter 2010-11.

Alice was at her stupendous best, with males constantly in view sallow searching in late morning in the Straits. At one point 4 sallow-searching males were in view. Then a good session from a cherry picker at Goose Green, with a male in George's Glade attacking everything in sight - including Nithatch and Great Splatted woodpecker and the Tit family (that would be Mr and Mrs Tit, and their son, Watta? ed)..... Some interesting female behaviour incl more egg laying.

We also filmed, from on high, various frolickings involving people wearing nothing but One Sock - all of which will be broadcast.

I remain, determined to finish this bottle of sack before starting the port....

MATTHEW.

Back in Alice Holt, initially in unsuccessful pursuit of that Iole male. Neil Hulme ventured over the border to join the search - only to learn that another pristine Iole male had been photoed on his home patch. Hulme needs to be put on strong blood pressure pills. Never twitch an aberration.

Iris did not descend to the rides early on, only coming down in modest numbers during the mid-late morning period, as usual. I've yet to witness a repeat of the mass early breakfast of the 1976 heatwave, when temperatures were similar.

Good to see the first egg laying of the year (assuming she did lay - and the girls often go thru the motions without actually laying). She also rejected a male in the classic downward spiral flight describe in Ken Willmott's work. I also saw 2 other Empresses, including one being courted by 2 males at the main Goose Green territory. Result unknown.

Males were nicely sallow-searching and sailing the oak edges for an hour late morning. From 2pm they were quiescent, hardly stirring in the heat. There was a modest evening flight for 1 hour from 6pm, but activity was hindered and then curtailed by a band of cloud.

The butterfly is now officially 'well out' down south, with more females and a few males still to emerge.

Apparently it's just starting in Northants.

MONDAY 29th JUNE: By the powers invested in me, I hereby declare Sheffield Park Woods (NT) officially Purple. 3 males around a classic sheltered high point territory and a probable female later. There are very few known sites in East Sussex.

Better still, the Dragons Green iris are back, after many years. This is quite the most vicious race of iris: serial offender thugs. Who else would beat up 2 chaffinch, massacre a hornet, and then slaughter a posse of courting Purple Hairstreak, all within a minute? Don't mess with these guys, they're serious. 2 were on a sap run there at 6.45pm, pushing out hornets. They were still going when I left for the pub at 7.20 - so a significant evening flight in this orgasmic heat.

SUNDAY 28th JUNE:Today, I spent 45 mins with a pristine Purple Emperor male aberration Iole, down on the main ride near the entrance to my beloved Straits Inclosure, in Alice Holt. Photos to follow. This realises an ambition of 40+ years standing. Iole has 2 tiny white spots, only. There are 3 specimens in the national collections.
It had not previously been photographed.

'If a man could pass through paradise as if in a dream, and be handed a flower as a pledge that he had truly been there; and if on leaving he was to find that flower in his hand. Ay! And what then?'. Coleridge (probably in an illegal state of mind).

Matthew

SATURDAY 27th JUNE: Great to see a courting pair - male closely following female - at the Mark Oak master tree territory where Ken Willmott conducted much of his classic research, seen at 1.38 and 1.40. Straight out of the Book of Willmott. This seems to be the first female of the year.

No males seen 'sallow-searching', which they do on flat ground in Alice Holt and Fermyn. Ken has never seen this here. Maybe they don't indulge in that behaviour here.

3 males seen down on the rides in the morning, but all disturbed by passers by. None came down to our baits, but we only put them out for 45 mins.

Matthew

FRIDAY 26th JUNE: The day began with the obligatory Glastonbury Festival thunderstorm, then a glowering dank morning which meant my field meeting group failed to see anything or iris. Some sun and brightness after 2pm. His Imperial Majesty came out to play with the sun: 4 males at Goose Green in Alice Holt, who split into two pairs disputing two territories. And a freshly emerged Purple Hairstreak - and again I failed to find the vacated pupal case.

The number of Purple Emperors at Southwater Woods is building nicely. On the 25th June Matthew Oates and I spent the day there, eventually seeing a total of 8 males. Things were looking a little slow, until an apparently solitary male was suddenly joined by a second, then third Emperor, resulting in a 'free-for-all' around the Dogbarking Master Trees.

Today (27th June) I saw 10 individual males, with two coming down to the main W-E Ride. I got some reasonable photographs of the underside, but the open-wing 'purple shot' evaded me, as it was checking out the quality of my moleskin trousers. Fellow Butterfly Conservation committee member Andrew Burns managed to photograph it on my calf.

The woods are throwing up unprecendented numbers of aberrant forms this season. I recorded my fifth different obliterae White Admiral and an even more extreme ocellata Silver-washed Fritillary than the one that I've seen over previous days.

Today: we visited Marlpost et al. Saw 8 iris males including a clash of 3 over the Dogbarking Wood master oaks - not bad for Day 3 of the season. Elsewhere it was very slow, though I did get assaulted by a vicious male at the Crookhorn Lane intersection in Madgeland.
Also, 1 semi-nigrina WA male in Madgeland, 1 SWF male ab ocellata and 1 Comma ab suffusa in Marlpost. PH just starting - it will be interesting to see how good its numbers are here as most oaks were heavily defoliated by Tortrix viridana larvae in May.