I had a fabulous couple of hours at nearby Bernwood Forest this morning, with my daughters. Most of the common butterfly species were present, with the occasional White Admiral, abundant Ringlets (above) and the ever-present Silver-washed Fritillaries (below):
These are obvious, large and attractive butterflies, and bright orange to boot. I particularly like the way that the bulbous tips of their antennae are black with bright orange tips, perfectly matching their upper-wing colour. As with moths, these antennae have a role to play in pheromone detection, light perception and balance.
Once again, I was struck by the acuity of the senses of my children. My youngest picked out this Roesel’s bush-cricket on sight, not sound:
Whilst my eldest found this camouflaged caterpillar (as yet unidentified) on a grass stem, as she walked past:
Nothing makes you feel older than children and their super-fine senses.
But the main purpose of our visit was to try to see some of the local Purple Emperor butterflies. We were not disappointed. Between 10 and 11am, small numbers were active, flying around the tops of the small oaks a short distance down the main track. Groups of up to 4 Purple Emperors, zipped and glided around the tree-tops, but were never in view long. At 11:30 am one dropped down and spent some time on the back of the trousers of a fellow butterfly-watcher. We then headed back to the most reliable area in my experience, the car-park, to see if any were present. Almost immediately a male flew down and settled on the wheel of a parked car. I noticed that Purple Emporers also have glowing orange antennae tips: 
It then moved to the ground and began probing with its proboscis, whilst those wings flashed purple: 
It appeared to be taking up dust from the car-park into its proboscis: 
These are fabulous, large butterflies that we always enjoy catching up with during their brief flight period in July. A superb morning!