Fermyn Woods
⛅️22C Wednesday 10th July 2019 ~A morning visit to Fermyn Woods Country Park near Kettering.
The main reason for the visit was the magnificent and extremely elusive male Purple Emperor. More often than not views are restricted to treetop level where they feed on aphid honeydew and tree sap. However, if you're lucky, particularly in the early morning the males will descend to the ground, where they probe for salts either from road surfaces or from animal dung.
I managed probably just three specimens during the stay. An enjoyable visit but it was a surprise to only encounter three White Admiral and just a single Gatekeeper. Although there were plenty of whites on the wing I didn't manage to locate a single Green-veined.
List of Species for the Visit...
Large White (11), Small White (13), Brimstone (1), Purple Emperor (3), White Admiral (3), Red Admiral (2), Painted Lady (1), Comma (4), Silver-washed Fritillary (17), Marbled White (N), Ringlet (N), Meadow Brown (N), Gatekeeper (1), Speckled Wood (1), Purple Hairstreak (7), Essex Skipper (1), Small Skipper (15), Large Skipper (7), Silver Y Moth (1), Brown Hawker (5), Southern Hawker (2), Four-spot Chaser (6)... *N depicts too numerous to count!
Full report with photos ~ http://www.boatbirder.com/2019/07/fermyn-woods.html
