Matthew Oates is a naturalist, writer and poet who has been obsessed by Britain's butterflies since he was at school. Intimately acquainted with all of Britain's native species, he has made particular studies of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Mountain Ringlet and Duke of Burgundy. But no butterfly has entranced him so much as the elusive, beautiful Purple Emperor – a butterfly we now understand much better thanks to his detailed and tireless observation. Since 1992 Matthew has worked for the National Trust, where he is currently National Specialist for Nature. Matthew has written widely for newspapers and magazines, and is a regular writer for the Nature Notes column in The Times. He lives in Gloucestershire.

• ForewordIntroduction1 Starting out2 Laudator temporis acti3 Escape to the woods4 Rebellion5 Into the greenA digression, into names6 Desperately seeking Rima7 Walden8 The long hot summer of 19769 The legacy of 1976Alice Holt Forest10 Out of the seventiesWinter11 In and out of war: the early 1980sNoar Hill12 The return of the wanderer13 Nineteen eighty-four and all that14 A time of discoveryAutumn15 High-blown years: the Great Storm and afterwards16 Paradise regained: the great summer of 1989Spring17 Spring perfected18 Moving on19 High adventures in the mid-1990sThe New Forest20 Summer of the Painted Lady21 Leaving the nineties22 Time out of time23 The Emperor’s return24 Hairstreaks to the foreSome Cotswold places25 Of Iris and Adonis26 A fall from graceSummer27 A tale of two butterflies28 Adventures with caterpillarsSavernake Forest29 It rained… 30 Fifty years onTowards some meaningAfterword: On Marlpost RoadButterflies of the yearBibliographyList of illustrationsAcknowledgementsIndex of butterfly speciesGeneral index

Oates ... writes entrancingly, with the sunniest good humour. His book, with its old-school, loving erudition, is nature-writing of the sort that never goes out of fashion.

Matthew Oates is a naturalist, writer and poet who has been obsessed by Britain's butterflies since he was at school. Intimately acquainted with all of Britain's native species, he has made particular studies of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Mountain Ringlet and Duke of Burgundy. But no butterfly has entranced him so much as the elusive, beautiful Purple Emperor – a butterfly we now understand much better thanks to his detailed and tireless observation. Since 1992 Matthew has worked for the National Trust, where he is currently National Specialist for Nature. Matthew has written widely for newspapers and magazines, and is a regular writer for the Nature Notes column in The Times. He lives in Gloucestershire.

• ForewordIntroduction1 Starting out2 Laudator temporis acti3 Escape to the woods4 Rebellion5 Into the greenA digression, into names6 Desperately seeking Rima7 Walden8 The long hot summer of 19769 The legacy of 1976Alice Holt Forest10 Out of the seventiesWinter11 In and out of war: the early 1980sNoar Hill12 The return of the wanderer13 Nineteen eighty-four and all that14 A time of discoveryAutumn15 High-blown years: the Great Storm and afterwards16 Paradise regained: the great summer of 1989Spring17 Spring perfected18 Moving on19 High adventures in the mid-1990sThe New Forest20 Summer of the Painted Lady21 Leaving the nineties22 Time out of time23 The Emperor’s return24 Hairstreaks to the foreSome Cotswold places25 Of Iris and Adonis26 A fall from graceSummer27 A tale of two butterflies28 Adventures with caterpillarsSavernake Forest29 It rained… 30 Fifty years onTowards some meaningAfterword: On Marlpost RoadButterflies of the yearBibliographyList of illustrationsAcknowledgementsIndex of butterfly speciesGeneral index

Oates ... writes entrancingly, with the sunniest good humour. His book, with its old-school, loving erudition, is nature-writing of the sort that never goes out of fashion.

Matthew Oates is a naturalist, writer and poet who has been obsessed by Britain's butterflies since he was at school. Intimately acquainted with all of Britain's native species, he has made particular studies of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Mountain Ringlet and Duke of Burgundy. But no butterfly has entranced him so much as the elusive, beautiful Purple Emperor – a butterfly we now understand much better thanks to his detailed and tireless observation. Since 1992 Matthew has worked for the National Trust, where he is currently National Specialist for Nature. Matthew has written widely for newspapers and magazines, and is a regular writer for the Nature Notes column in The Times. He lives in Gloucestershire.

• ForewordIntroduction1 Starting out2 Laudator temporis acti3 Escape to the woods4 Rebellion5 Into the greenA digression, into names6 Desperately seeking Rima7 Walden8 The long hot summer of 19769 The legacy of 1976Alice Holt Forest10 Out of the seventiesWinter11 In and out of war: the early 1980sNoar Hill12 The return of the wanderer13 Nineteen eighty-four and all that14 A time of discoveryAutumn15 High-blown years: the Great Storm and afterwards16 Paradise regained: the great summer of 1989Spring17 Spring perfected18 Moving on19 High adventures in the mid-1990sThe New Forest20 Summer of the Painted Lady21 Leaving the nineties22 Time out of time23 The Emperor’s return24 Hairstreaks to the foreSome Cotswold places25 Of Iris and Adonis26 A fall from graceSummer27 A tale of two butterflies28 Adventures with caterpillarsSavernake Forest29 It rained… 30 Fifty years onTowards some meaningAfterword: On Marlpost RoadButterflies of the yearBibliographyList of illustrationsAcknowledgementsIndex of butterfly speciesGeneral index

Oates ... writes entrancingly, with the sunniest good humour. His book, with its old-school, loving erudition, is nature-writing of the sort that never goes out of fashion.