A RARE migrant butterfly has winged its way to Wyre Forest for its first sighting in Worcestershire in six years.

Expert Frank Lancaster did not flap when friends David and Margaret Booth called to say they had spotted the Monarch butterfly in their garden on the edge of the Wyre Forest.

Instead he hot-footed round with his camera to capture the large orange and black insect, normally found in the Americas, on film. Butterfly expert Frank Lancaster, who caught on film the rare migrant Monarch on the edge of the Wyre Forest.

A delighted Mr Lancaster, of Sandbourne Drive, Bewdley, said: "This is absolutely mega news. The county recorder has confirmed it is the first sighting in six years in Worcestershire.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the distinctive orange and black butterfly nectaring on buddleia in my friends' garden."

The Monarch, also known as the wanderer, migrates in its millions from the United States to Mexico in the summer months.

Mr Lancaster, a member of Butterfly Conservation, believes it was blown off course from its migratory route south.

He said: "It would have been flying at high altitude with favourable easterly tail winds when it was blown off course.

"It is one of the world's most powerful fliers with a wing span of five inches - twice the size of the Peacock butterfly."

However, the butterfly expert, who has played a major part in the revival of the insect in the Wyre Forest, said even if several of the species made it to Britain there was no chance of breeding.

He said: "The food plant of the Monarch caterpillar is the Milkweed in the genus Asclepias which is absent in the UK."

This makes Mr Lancaster's find all the more special.

He said: "This will certainly cause quite a stir among the butterfly fraternity in Worcestershire."