Trials and Tribulations with His Excellency 20th June 2025

The Purple Emperor flight season commenced in Bernwood Forest at the beginning of this week, will last but six weeks and be all over by the end of July. Consequently for acolytes such as myself the next few weeks will be dominated by seeking as many opportunities as possible to make contact with His Excellency.

So no surprises that I returned to Bernwood today to seek more encounters with his purple majesty.Incidentally it is only the males who show the purple iridescence on their upper wings, the females are dark brown but do have similar white markings on their wings

I returned to the same ride where I had success two days ago full of optimism but I should have known better.This time the weather, although warm and humid was for the first part of the morning lacking in sun. Whether this contributed to the distinct absence of Emperors I could not say although probably it did but then they are so capricious it could be for a host of other reasons. Such are the trials and tribulations of finding an Emperor but that is also the charm of seeking him out, for when success finally comes your way it makes it all the sweeter.

I lingered along the ride for two hours but there was  not even an intimation of one.I checked the tops of the oaks but there was no sign of one flying up there either. Other enthusiasts came and went and we exchanged commiserations and general chat. I learned that an Emperor had been seen in the forest's main car park earlier.There is always the temptation to abandon one's current spot and hurry to where one has been reported but it's  pointless as the butterfly will be long gone and anyway I rather liked this ride and its quiet rural ambience, so different to the constant coming and going of cars, people and dogs in the main car park and the track leading from it.

By mid morning the sun had begun to break through the thin veil of cloud and my hopes rose.Would the purple enigma put in an appearance now?.The answer was no, however a male Silver washed Fritillary deigned to cease its customary madcap charging through the trees and settled to nectar on a bramble. Obviously fresh he flexed his orange wings as he fed but then was off again on his ceaseless mission to find a mate

Silver washed Fritillary

Two and half hours passed with nothing to show for my vigil. A fellow enthusiast came up the ride heading back to the car park and enquired if I had seen a White Admiral. I told him no and suggested he try the cross roads at the main track.He went on his way and a minute later a White Admiral glided through the trees but did not stop. That's butterflying for you.

I too decided to make a move and opted to follow the same route as my colleague and walk to the main car park and then return to the ride to make my way back to my car parked at the far end of the meadows.

Any thoughts of my getting photos of an Emperor on the ground were long since abandoned. Just to see one, if only in passing was now what I was reduced to. Anything!

Walking along the narrow track which runs between my favoured ride and the main track I saw the person who had passed me earlier pointing a camera at the ground. I was not particularly concerned, for as far as I knew Emperors have never been seen here as the surrounding trees are mainly birch with perhaps the occasional oak. Approaching closer he turned towards me and pointed as the unmistakeable profile of an Emperor flew down the track towards me at speed. There was just time to catch a flash of purple and white as he powered past and flew further down the track beyond, where I lost sight of him.

Well my wish had been granted, a brief flight view after almost three hours. I retraced my steps along the  track in the hope it may have landed further on but predictably there was to be no happy ending.So close. So very frustrating.

I walked back to the end of the track where it joined the main track and encountered my friend again.Standing by some trees and bushes again pointing his camera at something.

Is this another Emperor? he enquired 

He pointed to a leaf on a low branch on which sat a large brown butterly with two prominent white bands across its open wings.

For a moment but only a moment my heart gave a leap before it became obvious it was a White Admiral, newly emerged and in absolutely pristine condition. Under normal circumstances I would be really pleased with such an encounter but it was nullified by my overwhelming desire to see an Emperor,. especially having come so close just minutes ago. Second best simply would not do!

Nonetheless we took the opportunity to take some photos of the butterfly and very nice it was too, posing perfectly before glding away in its inimitable, diffident and graceful manner through the trees.

Chatting to my erstwhile friend he told me he was from Manchester and had come down specially for the day, was new to butterflying and his desire was to see a Purple Emperor and a White Admiral and in the space of a few minutes he had achieved his ambition! I smiled graciously and congratulated him whilst inwardly wanting to scream in frustration.

He told me the Emperor had been feeding on the path and he showed me his photos.It was sheer luck but that is often the way. You have to be in the right place at the right time and there is no way to legislate for such things.

White Admiral

We parted at the cross roads and I made my way back to my favourite ride planning to carry on across the meadows back to my car .It was now very hot and humid, the sun was beating down and my legs and feet ached from constant standing, the camera and lens feeling like a ton weight around my shoulder.

There was one last faint hope  of  an Emperor being on the ride on my return but of course it wasn't.I got to the gate that led into the meadow which would take me to my car then maybe a stop at a country pub for a long cold glass of shandy.Wouldn't that be nice.

For some reason I dithered at the gate and decided to carry straight on where the ride broadened out and passed between huge oaks and tall conifers.It was uphill at first and I was soon questioning the wisdom of my  decision. What kept me going was the slim hope of seeing an Emperor flying around the tops of the oaks. I was not about to give up yet although blind optimism and sheer doggedness were all I clung to.

Of course I saw nothing and getting to another crossing of tracks I turned left which would take me back to the main track..Again I saw nothing but it was far from unpleasant walking along a broad grassy track bordered by huge trees, standing silent and majestic in the oppressive heat of approaching noon.At the end of the track I knew there was a bench where I could rest.

I sat gratefully on the rudimentary wooden bench as another enthusiast passed by on the main track and headed downhill to a culvert where the track rose up once more, leading eventually to the main car park.

After ten minutes I felt sufficiently revived and set off down the track.At the bottom by the culvert where a currently dried up stream runs under the track I could see the person I had recently spoken to looking down into the remnants of the stream, a small pool of water and some dried mud.

On getting to him he pointed downwards at the mud and there, perched on a stone in the drier part was a Purple Emperor!

Four almost fruitless hours and at the last possible moment, here was by sheer chance, success and confirmation if it was ever needed of His Majesty's enigmatic and contrary reputation, as he basked, one purple wing and one brown wing spread out, resplendent in the sunlight.

He was feeding on heaven knows what in the mud, his pale yellow proboscis avidly sucking up whatever he was finding that was so very much to his taste

Once ensconced like this they are almost immovable.My colleague told me that just before I arrived,  a dog came and jumped down into the water and mud but failed to deter him.He just flew around while the owner called his dog away and then returned to resume feeding.We alerted a passing lady enthusiast who joined us and the three of us stood and paid our respects to the Emperor.

I do not know what it is about this small and unremarkable culvert of mud and filthy water but it has proved irrisistible to butterflies over the years, including Emperors and Fritillarys

The Emperor, currently perched firmly on a small rock, unsportingly closed his wings as the sun went in and became nigh on invisible, so well camouflaged was it against the grey mud and scattered rocks, stones and twigs.

We waited for what seemed forever, willing it to open its wings and reveal the hidden glory of colour they possessed but they remained resolutely closed.

A Red Admiral arrrived to also feed on the mud and settled with wings spread, a shock of bold colour, black, red and white. Why couldn't the Emperor play ball in similar fashion but no. Both butterflies were immaculate, so presumably were freshly emerged.

After some twenty minutes, finally the Emperor slowly opened his wings and there was the regal purple iridescence glowing against the dull grey and muddy background with the Red Admiral getting in on the act by adding its bright colours too.

I moved to try and create a better angle to record the purple but moving to my right only transformed he Emperor into an all brown butterfly. I moved to my left and at first one wing shone purple and the other brown. Moving further left still and there at last was the shot I craved, the ultimate, where both wings glowed purple. It does not happen often believe me.

What a sight to behold and what relief! Tired, hot and bothered, weary in body  and spirit, all was forgotten now, as the three of us stood looking down into the culvert and its unsalubrious cloudy puddle of water and grey mud but with a jewel of an insect transforming its mundane surroundings from the ordinary to the extraordinary..

For forty five minutes His Excellency fed contentedly and then took a few steps off his rock, circled the mud in a low flight and then rose to speed away into the surrounding oaks, his true home.

A classic Purple Emperor encounter.

I would have it no other way.

More please!