Thursday, 9 July 2015

A Purple Day.


At the end of a brief patch walk at Epsom Common Stew Pond this morning (10.15 a.m.) I spotted a large butterfly sunning itself on a sign post upright and had my closest ever views of a male Purple Emperor (Apatura iris). 

A half hour later I was able to share this experience with various other members of  the Surrey and SW London Branch of Butterfly Conservation as we watched one individual (below) extracting nutrients and totally oblivious to the large circle of onlookers.

Later on in the day I had three more sightings of this sometimes elusive species including two males flying above an Oak on my Ashtead Common North butterfly transect ... definitely a purple day.

A roundup of this week's sightings will be posted tomorrow on 'Friday Flutters'.  FAB.
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16 comments:

  1. Midmarsh John9 July 2015 at 21:35

    A great catch there Frank. A real beauty.

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  2. Nick Morgan9 July 2015 at 21:42

    Fantastic. I have never seen a Purple Emperor.

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  3. David M. Gascoigne,9 July 2015 at 21:59

    Truly stunning butterflies and great photography.

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  4. Carol Mattingly10 July 2015 at 00:49

    I was right. You guys have some pretty cool looking butterflies over there. Carol

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  5. Wilma10 July 2015 at 03:14

    Great image with the purple showing up so vividly!

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  6. Susan10 July 2015 at 04:49

    Beautiful- I love purple!

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  7. Cloudia10 July 2015 at 04:57

    oh YEAH!


    ALOHA
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  8. The Herald10 July 2015 at 06:59

    Frank, it's always a special moment when you get to see these super butterflies, and you got some good photos too! As you say 'a purple day'...[;o)

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  9. Mersad10 July 2015 at 08:08

    Really awesome butterfly shots.

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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  10. Margaret Birding For Pleasure10 July 2015 at 08:21

    Boy you wre fortunate to see this gorgeous butterfly and then get these shots of it. Never seen one at all.

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  11. Stewart M10 July 2015 at 10:21

    Great shots - I have only ever seen this butterfly through a 'scope! Saw two males fighting it out over some oak trees - classic behaviour and location.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  12. JRandSue10 July 2015 at 14:30

    Well done Frank,never seen a male,only Females.
    John.

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  13. Kelly10 July 2015 at 15:15

    ...the dusting of purple against the brown is unexpected and beautiful.

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  14. Ana Mínguez Corella10 July 2015 at 19:21

    Nice butterflies.. Happy weekend.. :-)))

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  15. Montanagirl10 July 2015 at 21:18

    They're both very beautiful. I especially like the purple one.

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  16. Unknown11 July 2015 at 08:39

    Some great images of the Purple emperor ne reported seen one myself enjoyed seeing these

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