Exotic butterfly in central London

[ibisbill]

I was walking down Albemarle Street in London’s West End today when to my surprise I noticed a large butterfly fluttering with strong wingbeats above my head. It landed briefly on my jacket, was purple, black and white rather like a purple emperor. But I’m not a butterfly expert and only got a very quick glimpse of it, so not at all sure. But what was this butterfly doing in central London? Presumably artificially bred… The fact that it landed on me vaguely suggests to me an exotic species as in my experience temperate/British butterflies rarely do this, but I welcome views of those more expert than me…

[bugboy]

There's a few tropical butterfly exhibits in london. I think kew gardens have one in the summer and also the natural history museum. London zoo also has one so its almost certainly an escapee from one of these, enjoying our little heatwave.

[Charles Nicol]

might be a Camberwell Beauty ? Albemarle St is not far from Camberwell

http://www.ukbms.org/pictures/83.jpg