WILLIAMSON'S WEEKLY NATURE NOTES

LAST year I told you about the antics of a purple emperor butterfly which landed on my foot. He, for it was the royal purple-mantled male, spent a happy half hour imbibing something tasty from my sweat-soaked sandals after I had tramped through the woods sleuthing stories for this column.

While his depraved majesty ate his fill my wife crept into the house for my Pentax and so I was able to click away to my heart's content.

You don't get much closer to royalty than that: having them lick your feet. This is mere preamble to this year's amazing story, which has turned the books on butterflies on their heads.

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You see, purple emperors always emerge in flight in July. For years and years in these woods the date has been July 4 or even a week later.

There was a very special year when I saw a single butterfly on June 30.

That was reported in the newsletter Iris News (the latin name for the purple emperor is Apatura iris) as a remarkable and almost unique early date. The year was 1976, the year of the great drought. It was a one-off, the butterfly then emerging as usual in the first week of July.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette July 4