Friday 19th. July 2013

Take another chance on Dene Wood or head for a wood in deepest Surrey where several specimens of the 'King of Butterflies' . the Purple Emperor had been sighted recently , was the decision that Keith and myself mulled over last night on the phone . We decided on the latter and headed South at 0600 in an attempt to avoid the traffic congestion at the M25/M26 junction . We were the first to arrive at the car park , and set off with energy to find our target . Four hours later , we had seen several PEs high in the tree tops or searching the many Willow trees for females , but failed to find  specimen on the ground . Several 'baits' from earlier in the week were still along the rides and some fellow enthusiasts added their 'special brew' to them in an attempt to lure a specimen down . A couple of times we passed people who informed us that they had one on the ground and got photos . We must have covered a fair distance during that time , but it was worth it when a male came down to the 'bait' in an area known as the triangle . That was the first of four males seen , two on the ground and two just above head height in trees . I haven't had time to go through all the shots taken , but am posting a few plucked out to give a visual account of a great hour .

Also found on the site was an unusual caterpillar , one I , nor anyone else I showed it to , knew it's

identity . A bit of digging when I got home produced the answer , Alder Moth . I read that when in it's early stage , the caterpillar looks like a bird dropping , but it seems like another 'Ugly Duckling' story to me . We also saw Silver-washed Fritillary and White Admiral , and on the way back home ,

stopped off at a small river , where Keith spotted a SWF fly down and land on floating vegetation . The river also held large numbers of Banded Demoiselles , mainly males , but a few females were

seen and they were soon clasped by the males . The river also held several fish with black dorsal and

tail fins , not sure of the species , but an angler might know . Before we left , a couple of locals came to photograph the Odonata . We got chatting and it turned out that one of them had spent all day yesterday , searching the wood we had visited , for PE and didn't get a single sighting . Lucky us or what .