
Ashley Whitlock
Hampshire & IOW Butterflies and Moths
If you go down to the woods today.......

Most people want to see the Purple Emperor on the ground. This is a typical pose of the species with its wings open and ibibing on stony ground getting nutrients up its proboscis . Most of the time you very rarely see the Purple Sheen on both wings, its either the left or the right. You have to be standing right over the butterfly and normally its better on overcast days.

When out looking in the woods look for bleeding oaks with a substantial sap run, which have been struck by lightning or have been attacked by other forces like the wind or just rotten by age. Here the smell can be quite potent and the Purple Emperor will likely seek this out and imbibe on the sap for many minutes. Some sap runs can be away from you eyesight, and the purple Emperor can be seen sometimes flying well into the bough of the tree, and disappearing for minutes at a time.
Victorians used to drill large holes in the bark of the tree to encourage sap runs and hence get their prize the Purple Emperor, this used to take place in the New Forest and Alice Holt Forest to name a few.

Dog walkers to me should always clean up after their dog has done its business, but on the odd occasion during the summer they can be quite forgiven when they leave a deposit on the ground which invariably will attract the butterflies like Commas Red Admirals, but none more so than his Imperial majesty, which will sit on the dog poo for many minutes giving you a good viewing of this gracious insect.

Over the years I have managed to attract the Purple Emperor on to my camera bag, where it has stayed enjoying whatever it can find for up to an hour or so. Maybe its transfixed by the colour which it is very similar to its wings?

A typical ride in a Purple Emperor wood with wide vistas looking towards the crowns of the Oaks. This is the kind of vista to look for when the Emperor is Oak edging and Sallow searching in the morning.

Another typical woodland ride where you would encounter the Purple Emperor, this is Whiteley Pastures and Botley Wood near Fareham in Hampshire.

The mornings should be spent looking up at the Oak crowns to see the male Purple Emperor flying in and out of the sprigs of leaves and over the tops of the crowns going one way down a ride then back down the other side, looking for potential females. Later on they will start to hunt in and around good Sallow stands, and then around about mid-day towards one o'clock in the afternoon they will have made there way up to a Assembly point to fend off other males in the areas, establish a territory and flex their muscles, hoping a potential female has been looking on, and courtship may start .

A typical ride in a Hampshire wood, this is Havant Thicket, and this ride is over a mile long, and several males in a good year could be encountered along a ride like this following the contours of the Oak stands.
.jpg)
The Pussy Willow, Sallow 'Caprea' is the main food plant of the Purple Emperor caterpillar in woodland and along hedgerows, river and wet meadows. Matthew Oates has calculated that a good Purple Emperor wood needs at least 400 of these trees of different ages,and particularly the female variety which have the furry underside, just one of the needs to hold a good population of the Purple Emperor. In my experience walking around a lot of woods in Hampshire there is nowhere near that number. Although the Female Purple Emperor will lay on the narrower leafed Sallow, and other hybrids in its effort to lay her eggs.

Just like my 'other' species the Duke of Burgundy the Purple Emperor is not renown for feeding off of flowers, but occasionally they will buck that trend. I have seen amale on Bramble before in Goose Green Inclosure. Females are often seen on Buddleia, this may well be that it's another source of vitamins for the egg-laying process.

The future of wildlife and especially rarer flora and fauna can be seen at the fantastic Knepp Wildlands in West Sussex,I know its not Hampshire, but I think in the next 10-20 years we will have sites like this in practically every county. Knepp has the possibly the largest population of Purple Emperors anywhere in the world, which is a pretty bold statement. (Photo Knepp estate)