Bernwood Forest this morning and immediately there was a Purple Emperor flying around the main track, attracting a small, friendly group of admirers: 
This individual did not settle for long and appeared reluctant to show off the purple iridescence on the upper wings:
Perched on an old piece of dog poo, we could see that this was a rather worn male, with a distinctive chunk missing from the trailing edge of the left hind-wing:
Having flown around us for a little while, it then landed by my right foot, it’s shadow also revealing the damaged left wing:
Sensing something attractive, it then climbed onto my sandal. My wife entertained us by reading out the preferred food sources of the Purple Emperor butterfly: “dog poo, urine, animal carcasses“. I reassured her that it must be after a drink human sweat from my perfectly fragrant feet. On a previous visit, I recall fresh fox faeces being left out to attract the Emperors. 
It then began feeding from the skin of my foot. The honour – I was being licked by the Emperor! I could feel the faint tickling of the yellow proboscis on my skin: 
Content, it spread it’s wings, revealing a little purple hue: 
Having enjoyed helping sustain this magnificent butterfly, we had a short wander down the track before returning to the car park. A different male Purple Emperor was waiting for us. This one had an intact left wing and a little more purple haze, but did not stay long: 
I tried to recall other wildlife encounters that involved something being on my foot (as opposed to me treading on it!). My favourite was in the Australian outback in November 2007. I was with Phillip Maher in search of one of the most difficult birds to see in the entire continent, Plains Wanderer. These tiny quail-like birds inhabit the vast flat plains of New South Wales, are nocturnal and are nearly impossible to see. It took hours of spotlighting in the early morning hours before we struck gold – a female. This species exhibits reversed sexual dichromatism, so the female is the better marked of the pair. We stood silently and she just walked towards us. I took the picture below…
.. and then felt a soft thud on my right foot (obviously my lucky right foot now) as the female Plains Wanderer walked over it!
The only other wildlife-on-foot incident that I can recall was in eastern Poland with Ian Reid one night in May 2011 when a Corncrake dropped into the marshes right in front of us. I think it may have gone over or at least very close to Ian’s foot. His fabulous photograph of the bird confirms that it was certainly nearby: 
I can now lay claim to the first internet post that mentions Purple Emperor Butterflies and Plains Wanderer. The common connection: my right foot!