Knepp 11th July

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My first visit to Knepp, famous for the rewilding project of a farm in West Sussex. The weather had finally improved after a dreary week, being mostly sunny on the day.

I was there four hours, the first two of which were somewhat uneventful apart from numerous Gatekeeper butterflies.  Then things definitely improved, starting with views of White Storks following the introduction of the species to Knepp. Three youngsters were seen, having left their oak-tree nest in the last two days.  The birds can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of the picture below, the nest being in the upper branches of the tree.





However, my main objective was to see Purple Emperor, Knepp being one of best sites in the country to see this butterfly, dubbed 'His Imperial Majesty' by enthusiasts such as Matthew Oates who recently wrote a book about it.  For a time the only purple butterfly I could find was Purple Hairstreak, about 6 being seen in total, and reasonably close. A delightful butterfly nonetheless. 








Having almost given up on Purple Emperor I noticed a small group of people further along the track looking up with much interest into a large oak tree.  Sure enough they had found a female emperor, with help no less from Matthew Oates himself, typically wearing a purple t shirt. Not the greatest view of a Purple Emperor, but I was grateful for it.








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