WEST SUSSEX: Last of the purple emperors

Friday, July 11. After a few days at Anita and Nick's houseboat, it was time to move down to Dorset for our weekend together. On the way, they decided to stop by at Knepp Estate and Wildlands, an old farm turned into a wildlife reserve by caring folks. Nick has been coming here for 10 years or so to see a particular butterfly, the Purple Emperor, which thrives here because the place has lots of its food plant, a tree called sallow. 

We got there after a few hours in the car and had a lovely walk around. It was another sunny day and the woods had a fair few other people in them, many of whom were also looking for the Purple Emperor, as it turned out. I got four new bird species in, and was amused as impromptu butterfly enthusiast communities gathered in a very English way. 'Ooh, there aren't many around now, it's too late in the season, of course everything has come so early this, gosh it's so warm isn;t it, roasting, oooh, see that one just up there, in the branch, no not that branch, the other branch, just to the left of that you can see the female..."

British wildlife enthusiasts appear to be of all ages. Blokes with rucksacks, ladies of a certain age, younger couples, and sometimes a family with a bright young lad...everyone seems to be having a go. It's very charming and I was glad to be a part of it. Nick and Anita spotted two Purple Emperors, probably the last ones still in the Estate. They don't live long, poor things.

Back in the car, we hit the main road that leads along the south coast through Hampshire and into Dorset - bypassing towns like Chichester, Plymouth, Southhampton, Bournemouth - and it took MUCH longer than expected to get to the holiday house on the Isle of Portland. I haven't been on English main roads in a car in thirty years and things have changed; let's just say the road network is no longer anywhere near sufficient to cope with the volume it's getting, and if it was, a quarter of the landscape would need to be road. We were all a bit hot, tired and fractious by the end of the trip and we staggered gratefully into the house on Portland, ate fish and chips, and crashed out rather early. We had another big day ahead.