Painted Lady

It's nearing the end of June so today was our first foray on to Bookham Common in search of a Purple Emperor butterfly. We didn't find one. But we did find a good few species including this Painted Lady. It's going to be a good year for Painted Ladies apparently. I was checking online, only to find a tattoo parlour in Birmingham with the same name - funny where the internet takes you.

Purple emperors like to come down off the trees and feed on animal droppings - so there was much inspecting of horse muck. The National Trust ranger at Bookham told us that Victorian butterfly hunters used to smear themselves with an evil-smelling fish paste in order to attract the Purple Emperors. I draw the line at that.

How to find them.