Project coaxes purple butterfly into new county

Purple emperors have made it as far north as Derbyshire

A "conservation success story" has seen a British butterfly species coaxed in to a new county.

The purple emperor is a relatively common sight in the south of England but until last summer was previously unrecorded in Derbyshire.

The planting of sallow trees in shaded spots close to the oak woodlands the species inhabits in the county since 2023 encouraged two sightings, in Bretby and Aston-on-Trent, in 2024.

And a further record of the purple emperor basking on a driveway in Ticknall on Wednesday means the butterfly is "100% going to establish" locally, according to Derbyshire recorder for charity Butterfly Conservation Ken Orpe.

Mr Orpe, who was awarded a Green Apple environmental award for his work encouraging landowners to create caterpillar habitats including at Kedleston and Hardwick estates, said the species had been noted expanding north from Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and most recently Leicestershire due to climate change.

He said: "We thought if we can get some sallows, which is the food plant of the caterpillar, planted, it might just entice it into our beloved county."

A female purple emperor was photographed in Ticknall

Purple emperor males can be the size of a small bird, says the Woodland Trust, and have an iridescent purple sheen to their wings, while the females are smaller and brown in colour.

Butterfly enthusiasts call the species "His Majesty" said the trust, and Mr Orpe added in Victorian times spotters would "go crazy" for them.

But sighting them can prove tough, as when mature in late June to August, the males prefer to congregate on the tops of oak trees waiting for females to pass by.

Mr Orpe said: "They're absolutely brilliant, quite large, as big as the palm of your hand, and when the sun shines on the male it's a beautiful purple sheen on the wings.

"It's really good news that they've reached Derbyshire. I used to have to go to Wiltshire or Hampshire to see them, that was 20 years ago, but now they've come to see us."