Throngs of butterflies were on the wing. Small tortoiseshells basked on the sun-baked path, a red admiral was puddling in a muddy tyre track and peacocks were growing intoxicated on tree sap.
Meadow browns flitted low across the pasture, mingling with gatekeepers, ringlets and marbled whites among the thistles and knapweed. In the hedgerow a white admiral took nectar from the last of the bramble blossom, while a scalloped-winged comma fed on the first ripe blackberry.
The re-wilding of this former arable and dairy farm is now well into its second decade. The grazing of free-roaming large herbivores has driven habitat change across the estate, creating a mosaic of open grassland, regenerating scrub and wooded groves.
Thirty two species of butterfly have been recorded at Knepp, but the jewel of the wildland is the purple emperor, Apatura iris, first sighted here in 2009. Emerging sallow scrub has provided these alluring, arboreal butterflies with new territory, and the estate has become a breeding hotspot.
I gazed up into the canopy, alert to any flicker of movement. Earlier a female had flown past us, grey-brown with a broken blaze of white on her forewings, but males perch at the top of oaks, patrolling for females and chasing off any creature that dares to stray into their domain.
I glimpsed a spark of iridescent purple, but then, disappointed, recognised the diminutive size and weak flutter of a purple hairstreak.
Suddenly a purple emperor zipped out, another male in hot pursuit. The muscular insects engaged in a violent aerial duel, jousting round the treetops, their wings flashing amethyst. As a house martin swooped past, the dominant male broke away from his rival and flew at speed towards the larger intruder, determined to chase it out of his territory. Startled by the emperor’s wild pass, the bird wheeled sharply away.
Instead of returning victorious to his lofty perch, the emperor spiralled down to us, perhaps attracted to the minerals and salts in our sweat-slicked skin. As he circled my head it sounded as though someone was rapidly flipping through the pages of a paperback.
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