Concerned Of Sussex

Today I was joined by Matthew Oates in a raid on Botany Bay. But rather than a shed-full of grounded Emperors, ideal conditions brought only 3 males out to play, despite much looking. We are both getting rather concerned that we have a poor iris season to contend with. Although Matthew has seen good numbers of White Admiral and Silver-washed at AHF, a similar malaise seems to have affected all of these summer woodland species in Sussex and the Surrey borderlands. Hutchinsoni Comma numbers are down here too. Perhaps all of these species, which operate to a similar calendar, have been adversely affected by the abrupt change from excellent to rubbish weather at a critical time? At least those magnificent beasts that did show up performed well, with repeated returns to the forest floor, finger-sitting and prolonged periods of tongue-wiping (on the leaves of low foliage) to remove silt particles from the proboscis after 'salting'.