The purple empire

At work in the willow

Yesterday the pollarding of the willow was finally finished -  hurrah!  Milo plus helpers made short work of it, and now there are mounds of willow tops protecting the pollarded trees and neat stacks of willow, which when seasoned, we'll try out in the log burner as a change from birch.  We can't wait to see the results of our labour next Spring and look forward to sitting above the willow grove to see if the Purple Emperor butterfly, (one of the reasons that this part of Old Copse is a SSSI), has been enticed back.

Admiring the results so far

The Purple Emperor

The Purple Emperor is the second largest butterfly in Britain ... only the Swallowtail being larger. It is rarely seen unless a special effort is made to find it as it flies high in the tree-tops of woodland where it feeds on aphid honeydew and sap runs. Its range is now restricted to some of the larger woods in southern England. There are colonies in Southwater Woods (eight miles to the west) and at Knepp Castle Estate (nine miles to the southwest), so it's not unreasonable to hope that it could one day return to Old Copse if the conditions are right.