Today was all about hope. The weather forecast was, quite frankly, rubbish, but at this time of year there is always the chance that there may be a little bit of sunshine. It is early July so it means a trip to Abbotts Wood in Alice Holt Forest. The birds are put on hold for a couple of weeks, now it the time to find the Purple Emperor. But like the weather the recent reports on the whereabouts of the Emperor has been rubbish too. No sightings in Hampshire so far, and the first sightings in the regular sites like Knepp and Bookham Common were only yesterday.
We were positive though, they have to emerge sometime and there was no reason why it wouldn't be today. We met up at the later time of 9:00 am and from the car park walked along the main track to the first meeting point at the cross roads. There was blue sky around and this was producing some warm spells of sunshine. With the sunshine came a few butterflies, first the Red Admiral.
Some beautiful natural framing.
Then a Large Skipper at first on a dock leaf.
Then onto the Bracken leaf.
Then in amongst the grasses along the main ride the first Ringlet of the year.
They were taking the opportunity to catch what radiation there was about by spreading the wings out on the broad leaves.
Ringlets are probably not the most spectacular of butterflies, so I was looking to try and get some different views and here I have used the surrounding vegetation to provide a frame.
It took a little while, but finally closed the wings showing off the "eyes" on the under side that give the butterfly its name.
It was time to move on and we walked along the main ride, stopping a short way along to watch, what was probably a Purple Hairstreak flying back and forth across the path high up. Finally we lost it against the large Oak without a definitive identification.
A White Admiral flew through at the open area where the path turns right and downhill. There was also a very vocal Blackcap singing here. We walked on, heading past the furthest point I had walked here before, so I was on new territory. We came across the path that leads off to the right and back to where we had just come from. On our left was a lovely grassy ride, the cloud though was back and there was the threat of rain.
We did get a short shower, but it passed through and for a while the sunshine returned. The are a here at this sort of cross roads was full of Sallow with a couple of very tall Oak trees, perfect Purple Emperor habitat.
Ringlet and Meadow Brown could be seen in the grasses on both sides of the ride. We walked up and down and were finally rewarded with a White Admiral that was settled for a while on the flowering Brambles.
Widespread across Southern England and into Wales the White Admiral is usually the butterfly that is mistaken for a Purple Emperor. The White Admiral is smaller and lacks the purple sheen.
The White Admiral has quite a spectacular under wing, but today, with the restricted sunshine, they were resting and nectaring with their wings spread.
White Admirals like shady woodland rides often associated with mature woodland with plenty of bramble that the adults can nectar on.
They are literally a delight to behold as they glide through the rides, weaving amongst the trees and branches with hardly any significant wing beats.
Meadow Browns now become very common in Hampshire, there numbers increasing fro early July well into August. The first ones of the year attract the photographs, but after that they become ignored, only attracting the camera lens if they can compose a suitable picture, which I think this one managed to do.
The other member of the supporting cast to the Purple Emperor main event is the Silver Washed Fritillary. The swooping powerful flight of this large and graceful butterfly for me is the sight of the woodland summer. Several appeared as the sunshine returned and with the indifferent weather they were very accommodating settling too on the bramble flowers.
A different view again showing off the beauty of the orange and black markings against the vivid greens of the surrounding leaves.
Not sure how they always manage it but the Silver Washed Fritillary seems to find some gorgeous backgrounds.
The clouds returned and things became quiet once again. The Meadow Browns and Ringlets being joined by a Large Skipper.
We walked back to the main path to watch the oak and sallow. On the thistles alongside the ride there was a Painted Lady caterpillar.
The sun returned and highlighted a male Meadow Brown settled on the bracken leaves.
With the sun returning the Silver Washed Fritillaries reappeared, heaven knows where they go to, they just seem to appear.
Then they came down to the Bramble.
And of course found the beautiful backgrounds.
Here showing off the silver washed under wing.
With the butterfly concentrating on the bramble and nectar it was possible to get in close.
Here the beautiful chequered black and orange markings contrasting with the black background.
And then back to the more traditional view of this stunning butterfly.
The clouds returned and the butterflies dried up once again. As expected there was no sign of the main event, the Purple Emperor was not showing. There were a few birds about, singing Siskin and surprisingly a Willow Warbler in full song. A Buzzard drifted over as did a Swift, while both Bullfinch and Nuthatch could be heard in amongst the trees.
We decided to walk back to the car park for some lunch and then with continued hope a return to where we had left. Walking along the main path, unusually a Silver Washed Fritillary settled on the main path.
Just after the Fritillary a Painted Lady also settled on the path but I wasn't able to get a photograph
The return didn't work out as we hoped. The clouds rolled in and became quite heavy above us and eventually they started to produce some drizzle. The brown butterflies were still around, Meadow Browns and Ringlets. This Ringlet settling on another broad leaf showing off the "ringlets".
In all honesty we had given up on the Purple Emperor, but we stuck it out getting our sallow and oak watching skills honed once again. In between leaf watching we were taken by a couple of insects on the cow parsley. This a Hover Fly, I have no idea what species this is, but I was very impressed with the forked proboscis.
And then a Longhorn Beetle.
With the drizzle becoming more persistent we decided that was it for the day. In the previous years the Purple Emperor was emerging mid June and by now was becoming difficult to see. This year it seems that they are about two to three weeks late. This means that there is still a chance to catch up with it and we agree to return next week, hopefully the weather will be a lot better, that though does seem to be a big ask.
I don't usually post photographs from my home garden on this blog but felt these photographs of a Small Tortoiseshell taken on Friday deserved to be shared here:
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