Friday, August 12, 2016

Close of Play in Savernake

Despite windy conditions (this has been such a windswept season!) I managed to see a lone male in the Dead Beech Glade territory in Savernake Forest today.

He was decidedly inactive, such that he failed to launch at a Honey Buzzard which drifted past (don't worry, Honey Buzzard is already on the 21st century hit list). Emperors become less and less active with age. This old boy, who looked brown in flight, had a little spin at 1.10 and another, proper tour round at 2.54, only. This inactivity is one of the main reasons we struggle to see iris late in the season.  


1 comment:

Matthew Oates said...

Do we have any later records, or was this the last Emperor of 2016???? If it was, then I saw the year's first and last...

NB I checked the best territories at Knepp on Mon 15th, and drew blank...