Hello everyone, I'm Rachel; Derek has kindly invited me to contribute to this blog. I met the purple emperor for the first time last week, and as you can see from this photograph we became well acquainted. I'm not completely sure if I was flattered by his decision to climb on to to my finger, as I believe that he likes smelly, disgusting things! It was a very hot day, but in my defence I had put my finger in a tin of shrimp cat food and then moistened it. A big sacrifice for a vegetarian! I really love this type of interaction with nature and have grown to love and respect butterflies more and more over the last few years. I found the purple emperor to be something special. It wasn't just  the beautifully patterned embroidery on his wings and the flashes of bluish purple in the sunlight that intrigued me, it was the sound of wings as he circled round me and the uniqueness of his fearless, mischievous character. He, not I, was in charge of the situation, and he was calling the shots. Fortunately, the purple emperor chose to pose!

You have probably already guessed that I have a tendency to anthropomorphise. And yes, I do talk to butterflies and other creatures!