Wednesday 14 July 2010

Wednesday 14th.July 2010

A few more images from Monday afternoon . After seeing great shots of Purple Emperor , on the ground , on Adam's / East Malling , Ditton & Barming blog , I contacted him for details , which he kindly passed on to me . So after visiting White Hill , and hoping that the weather would improve , I made my way to Dene Park , near Tonbridge , very close to Warren's Pittswood patch . I actually passed the end of Ashes Lane , mentioned so often on his blog , whilst looking for the car park . Anyway , eventually I found it , and following Adam's directions , was soon standing close to a large Oak tree , not far off one of the paths . The hoped for sunshine did show in short spells , and it was during one of these spells that movement was seen at the top of the Oak . With binoculars , Purple Emperor was confirmed , and the first was joined by a second . The flight was so quick , appearing and disappearing in seconds . With the 100mm. lens on , for shots on the ground , I did manage a few record shots , bad ones , but enough to confirm the species . As can be seen , one had wing damage , probably due to fighting , or hopefully mating .
Over the next couple of hours I had many sightings of probably three specimens , some down near the ground , but none stationary , hence no better shots . At 1430 , a male appeared from nowhere , circled me within a metre for 20/30 seconds , then disappeared as quickly as he came . I was turning with him , and had great views of the purple irridescence when the light caught his topwings , but I couldn't even focus on him , never mind take a shot . Weather permitting , I hope to return Thursday/Friday , with banana skins , for a long morning visit .
Also around were lots of White Admirals ,A very flighty , fresh Red Admiral , that wouldn't let me get within 5 metres ,A very fresh Peacock , that would not open it's wings ,And amongst the Bramble , a Light Emerald moth , I believe .
By 1530 , the PE sightings were non existent , but the area seemed to come alive with various species of flies , including this little one , no bigger than a house fly , with fantastic eyes .
It would not stop landing on the camera and my hands , so removing the camera from the tripod , I managed a few shots of it perched on the tripod head . I kept swatting it away from my hands , just as well , as when I identified it later at home , it was one of the Horse Flies-Chrysops relictus , and would probably have given a good bite .
Soon after , light rain started falling , which was my cue to leave , but on the gate post back at the car park , a very fresh Comma was hope for just one more sunny interval .

4 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Great pic of the Emperor Greenie, if you're around long enough on thur. or fri. you can pop up for a cup of tea :-)

Warren Baker said...

ooops..meant great pic of the White Admiral :-)

ShySongbird said...

Glad you got to see them eventually and I will look forward to seeing if the Banana skin works.

I had a funny feeling when you described the antics of that fly that it was interested in you for all the wrong reasons!

Lovely White Admiral photo.

Ken. said...

Hi Greenie.
You must be eating a lot of banana's lately :-)
Ditto what out fellow Bloggers say about the W/Admiral pic.The Comma is a good one too.
If you happen to go to Warren's for a cuppa, do you think there will be scones to go with it?