Purple Emperor

After three days of fieldwork I felt that a bit of downtime was needed, so headed off to Castor Hanglands in search of the Purple Emperors. After a slow start I eventually saw four in different parts of the site - three of which were flying strongly high above the oaks and showed no inclination to come to the ground. I always forget just how impressively large they are, and how strongly they fly.

This one deigned to settle for a while in the top of a hazel, staying perfectly still during a period of cloud cover. Not really close enough for a decent photograph, but I think this captures a pretty typical sighting. I'm still hoping to catch up with a more amenable individual before the season's over!