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.

16 comments:

  1. A great catch there Frank. A real beauty.

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  2. Fantastic. I have never seen a Purple Emperor.

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  3. Truly stunning butterflies and great photography.

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

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  5. Great image with the purple showing up so vividly!

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  6. Beautiful- I love purple!

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  7. 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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  8. 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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  9. 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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  10. Well done Frank,never seen a male,only Females.
    John.

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

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

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

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

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I hope you enjoyed your visit and I always appreciate your comments and feedback.

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