The Purple Emperor, Apatura iris

2013 was a good year for sightings with a hot, dry spell in mid July. The bright blue reflective surface of the males is only visible when seen from the angle that the sun light is being reflected to at the time. The wings of the males can appear to be mostly blue on one or both sides, or may not show any blue at all.

Weather notes:
2011. July - early August very wet.
2012. April - mid July very wet. August to mid September dry.
2013. Winter wet, March and early April, very cold. The rest of the spring was mostly cold. Early July, v. warm, caterpillars on the nettles. August, warm.
2014. Winter very wet, mild. Spring was early, colder in mid April. Summer to early August, warm without a drought.
2015. Winter normal, March, April - May mostly cold. Sallow flowers opened on March 28 - 29th. Summer, fairly normal.
2016. Winter normal. Sallow flowers opened on April 2 - 3rd. Spring mostly cool and breezy. For a few weeks in late spring there was heavy rainfall and saturated soil and vegetation. Late summer with hot, dry periods.
2017. Winter mildish, hardly any frost. Sallow flowers opened on March 14 - 15th. Warm spells in March. April mostly dry and chilly. First Creeping Thistle flowers open on June 13th, followed by about 7 days of heat wave. Early July was very warm, excellent for counting butterflies. Late summer, autumn normal.
2018. Winter normal with a few days of settled snow. Sallow flowers open on March 26th. March, April mostly cold and wet, May warm. June 11, Bramble flowers opening to greet first Large Skippers. Mid June to early August, very hot and dry. Autumn mostly dry.
2019. Winter normal. Hardly any frost. Sallow flowers seen on March 10th. Spring mostly cool apart from Easter heatwave. May 31, Bramble flowers starting to open. June 1, Buckthorn in full bloom. Dryish summer with some heatwaves.
2020. Mildish winter. Sallow flowers open March 10th. Spring mostly cool. Several warm days in early April and through May. May 28 Bramble flowers opening. Record dry May. June nectar sources mostly Buttercups in the unmown paths, and Brambles.
2021.Winter normal. Very wet, early spring then cold. Sallow flowers opened on March 23rd. Summer with a few hot spells and moderate rain.
2022. Winter, normal. Sallow flowers open on March 18th. Bramble flowers open May 28. Summer, mostly very dry with long hot spells.
2023. Winter normal, some frost. Feb very dry, March very wet. Sallow flowers open on March 21st. Cold wet spring followed by hottest May on record, warm June and wet July. Autumn, mild and wet.
2024. Winter mild and wet. Feb very wet. Sallow flowers open on March 13th.

Personal sightings:

18 July 2013. Fermyn Woods. An extremely warm day two weeks into a heat wave. On a two mile walk I saw about 20 Purple Emperors spread along the track through Fermyn Woods and close by in Lady Wood. They were almost unaware of people, with up to four or five photographers clustered round them at close range. When the Emperors did move off it was usually to return quite soon. There were not many opportunities to photograph them on foliage within a reasonable distance, they were mostly on the ground quietly probing the dry track surface - there were none of the usual shallow puddles. At one time in Lady Wood I saw four butterflies on the ground together. They were still to be seen when I left at about mid day.
2 August 2019. Roseland House. On a hot day this butterfly was on a Buddleia in the Paddock. From Thomas & Lewington this was a female, as it lacked the purple sheen of the males and had the bolder white upper wing markings shown in their book. Very pleasing as my other photos are all of males.