Each early July in any butterfly season Bernwood Forest to the north of Oxford and just across the county boundary in Bucks becomes a focus for enthusiasts wishing to observe Purple Emperor, and it’s supporting cast of two other large woodland butterflies White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary. The Forestry Commission complex most associated with that name, accessed from the car park at SP612118 – comprising three merging woodlands of Oakley, York and Shabbington Woods – has been a fixture in my own annual calendar since I started butterflying seriously in 2010. The location’s downside is its heavy use by dog walkers and how crowded it becomes otherwise at this time of year.

This year Butterfly Conservation’s Purple Emperor field meetings were taking place here on 11 & 12th. Though I have attended those in the past I grew to prefer butterfly watching alone or with just one or two companions. That’s because whereas birding may best be done in a group, real communion with insects is impossible when numbers of people gather around settled butterflies jostling for camera space. The location’s other downside is its heavy use by dog walkers and between the two things can become a bit hassle prone at this time of year.

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Hence on 11th I headed for Finemere Wood, Bucks (SP722217) hoping for a more agreeable option. The ancient hunting forest of Bernwood once covered much more land either side of the Oxon and Bucks border. Now a mosaic of woodland and hay meadows remains stretching north-eastwards from the villages of  Beckley and Stanton St John, just outside Oxford into countryside beyond the A41 between Bicester and Aylesbury. The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) manages five nature reserves within this complex: Finemere, Rushbeds and Whitecross Green Woods; Bernwood Meadows and Asham Meads. These are variously important for the “big three” woodland butterflies of July and the scarcer Hairstreaks.

Arriving at Finemere Wood at 10:30am I joined a small number of observers who had located two Purple Emperor (pictured below) in tree tops about a third of the way along this site’s main ride. But these did not descend to the ground as they can be relied upon to do at the Forestry Commission location. Being accessed along a farm track from the nearest road where there is limited parking, Finemere is not troubled by dog walkers or joggers and when the sun shines its only open ride becomes a corridor of frenetic butterfly activity. There were White Admiral gliding about at intervals but these are not generally inclined to perch for long openly, and hence it can take some time to secure acceptable pictures.

I then relocated to Whitecross Green Wood (SP600150) to try my luck there. This second location has a lot of brambly spots to attract White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary, but the grassy record shot below was the best I could manage this time. Once flying the condition of White Admirals can deteriorate quickly as the lower image demonstrates, so if they are not captured when newly emerged acceptable pictures can be difficult to come by.

A three day rain break ensued, then as the weather brightened again this morning (15th) I headed back to Oakley Wood. Arriving at 11:15am as the sun was breaking weakly through blanket cloud cover, I hoped that if like me the Emperors had been stuck at home for three days they might now be more inclined to come down from the trees and pose on the ground. I walked the main track again as far as Shabbington Wood, seeing one Purple Emperor flying amongst Oaks and my year’s first Purple Hairstreak, another speciality species at this site.

Returning to the car park to retrieve my sandwiches at around midday I hung around to see what would happen. Sure enough a male Purple Emperor glided down from on high and settled on a car. Whatever it is they gather from the gritty surface of the main track, today’s butterfly was probing for with its proboscis on the car tyres. It then set about striking interesting poses on another nearby vehicle.

These pictures (above) are a bit different from what I’ve taken before. Well everyone gets the ground level studies don’t they, but here’s a couple more anyway (below). I went to alert two observers from Bristol whom I had passed on the track, and being still nearby they hurried back to the car park. It was one of them’s first Emperor and both were delighted with my find.

The pressure now being off I next followed the main paths around York Wood to see what else was about. On reaching the gate from York Wood into Bernwood Meadows (SP609112) I did a circuit of this lovely wild flower meadow. There was a profusion everywhere of one of my favourites, Knapweed that made for still more picture opportunities. The sound of grasshoppers was all around and countless dozens would zip in every direction to escape my footfall. Eventually I just had to get down on all fours with my macro lens to record these. I believe they are Meadow Grasshopper –  confirmation please anyone?

It is possible to enjoy many hours browsing these various sites in the Bernwood Forest complex, that are managed for the greater public good by BBOWT, WREN and the Forestry Commission. I spent around four hours in these woods today and in that time what was a half-baked blog post has become a celebration of high summer wildlife. We are so lucky in Oxford to have all this habitat and its nationally important butterfly populations on our doorstep.