I decided to stay in the area called "The Triangle" only because I missed one that came down for 20 minutes by moving on in a vain search. I met a great couple of "Birders" who spend the summer months doing the same as me and so it was, when I first saw my quarry go down for lunch on shrimp paste, that had been deposited some days previously, I beckoned them for a nice 10 minutes with "his majesty". By this time the clouds were rolling in and when the butterfly had decided enough was enough he first went into a tree, allowing more shots, before leaving to go into an adjacent tree.Almost instantaneously another male came down on the track about 5 metres away and we had some shaded photos as well. In the area I saw four Purple Emperors and two came down to feed. My six year wait was over and I'm delighted with the outcome,was I lucky?,no, I just hit a purple patch. On the way out of Botany Bay I took a few shots of a pair of mating Ringlets. What a morning,what a day!!! No wonder so many people travels miles on the off chance of this sort of experience. Good luck to the next visitors.
This morning I thought I would take a trip over the border in Surrey to one of the Purple Emperor hotspots at Botany Bay near Dunsfold in Surrey.I have often been in close proximity to a Purple Emperor on this site but the photo has not been on my camera making it six years since I have seen one on the ground, but that certainly changed today. I decided to stay in the area called "The Triangle" only because I missed one that came down for 20 minutes by moving on in a vain search. I met a great couple of "Birders" who spend the summer months doing the same as me and so it was, when I first saw my quarry go down for lunch on shrimp paste, that had been deposited some days previously, I beckoned them for a nice 10 minutes with "his majesty". By this time the clouds were rolling in and when the butterfly had decided enough was enough he first went into a tree, allowing more shots, before leaving to go into an adjacent tree.Almost instantaneously another male came down on the track about 5 metres away and we had some shaded photos as well. In the area I saw four Purple Emperors and two came down to feed. My six year wait was over and I'm delighted with the outcome,was I lucky?,no, I just hit a purple patch. On the way out of Botany Bay I took a few shots of a pair of mating Ringlets. What a morning,what a day!!! No wonder so many people travels miles on the off chance of this sort of experience. Good luck to the next visitors.
2 Comments
1/7/2014 11:10:09 am
Cracking blog Colin, stunning photographs. Really nice to meet you today and thanks for sharing the "purplie" with us. Dave
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Colin
1/7/2014 11:28:39 am
Thanks Dave & Martin, it was a pleasure to meet you both as well.That was a great session with the Purple Emperors, so delighted you both enjoyed it as much as I did. Hope to bump into you both again some time soon.
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