Flesh Eating Butterfly

A butterfly, called Purple Emperor, is one of Britain’s most elusive butterflies and it feeds on rotting flesh.

21:28 26 July 2015

Groups of people can be seen wandering English woods trying to get a glimpse of a rare butterfly called the  Purple Emperor, a specie that feeds on rotting flesh.

 

Neil Hulme, a butterfly enthusiast says that you’ll never forget the first time you laid your eyes on such amazing creature.

 

"My dad and I were walking through the woods, and we came across a woman in her 30s wearing stars-and-stripes trousers, bent over. Some men in tweed with cameras and long lenses were photographing her from behind."

 

He said he realised that people were taking pictures of a Purple Emperor that had landed on her bottom. The butterfly then flew on his collar.

 

"The butterfly paparazzi moved in and surrounded me," he recalls. "In blind optimism I held out my hand as a falconer might, and it landed on my finger. It was such an amazing experience. I was hooked."

 

That experience started his decades-long love affair, which has seen him devote his summer searching for the mysterious butterfly. July is the key time of the year; at the end of this month, all of the Purple Emperor will be dead.

 

"It's a violent thug. It attacks anything that comes into its airspace - it even tries to chase big birds like buzzards. It has filthy table manners."