The Purple Emperor is probably the UK's most impressive butterfly. The well-known butterfly expert Matthew Oates wrote a book on his passion for the Emperor entitled "His Imperial Majesty: A Natural History of the Purple Emperor" and sightings of Purple Emperors at Broadwater are very rare. We were really excited, therefore, to hear from regular visitor Gillian Snowdon that she had seen a male Purple Emperor near the Veteran Oak in the south of the reserve. She managed to photograph and video it and here's one of her photos.
Wealden Reserves Office Manager