Top of the bill today at Knepp was the purple emperor butterfly - yet another Knepp speciality.

Alison invited Martin and me to join her on this visit; unfortunately Martin couldn't make it. Despite the blustery conditions, we had a very successful experience. We went to the main area - towards the south east of the site, very close to the tree hide.

We spotted one in the bushes in front of the high oaks. It was flitting around like a spotted flycatcher. After a while it disappeared.

Later on it reappeared but it soon flew to the top of the high oaks and from there on that was where we got most of our views.

We did enjoy one short spell when it whizzed over our heads before ascending into the trees above.
Sadly we didn't see any on the ground today a combination of the windy conditions and the large number of people visiting the estate today. Yesterday there were 18 purple emperors feeding on the fox scat that the rangers had put down. The picture below is from an archive and shows what yesterday's lucky visitors would have seen in abundance.

courtesy of David Sadler and the Sussex Branch of the Butterfly Conservation Group

Read for yourself the information that the Knepp Esate send out for those wishing to see these special butterflies.

Purple Emperor Butterflies

Purple Emperors are one of the most astonishing successes of the rewilding project. None having been recorded here in the recent past, Knepp is now home to the UK's largest colony of this rare and spectacular butterfly.

Second only in size to the Swallowtail, the Emperors were first seen at Knepp in 2010. The males display in the canopy of the oaks, marking out their territory in competition for females. They are surprisingly aggressive, and will chase away anything else that flies – including birds.
It is our emerging sallow scrub, however, that has attracted them here. The females lay their eggs on a particular type of sallow leaf. This only occurs on a very low percentage of hybridised sallows. Large areas of sallow are therefore needed in order to encourage large populations of Purple Emperors. However, in our modern landscape, sallow is rarely tolerated and consequently this lovely irridescent purple butterfly has become incredibly rare.
Unlike other butterflies, the Purple Emperor has decadent tastes. Shunning flowers, it feeds on fox scat and sap runs, more like a tropical butterfly.

Previously considered a 'woodland' species, the Emperor's success in the sallow scrub at Knepp is revealing new insights into its behaviour and habitat preferences.

We did some birding too!

No sight or sound of the nightingales, although they were obviously present in large numbers. Well into the breeding season, there was no reason to sing!
No turtle doves were seen for much the same reasons as the nightingales.
We did see the white storks of course!