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NEU Senior Regional Support Officer
Big Cock Paste
PETER FROST has been shopping for Big Cock shrimp paste and Thai Boy paste too. What strange goings on are happening in Northamptonshire’s woods?
Both images are of the same male Purple Emperor [Charles J Sharp/CC]

THEY will be out, as they are every summer, beneath the canopy of high trees, in Fermyn Woods in the heart of the Rockingham Forest. They are the secret members of a quaintly named society called the Purple Empire.

They and I have been out, and online, seeking delicacies for the planned annual breakfast. Chief items on the menu will be the most pungent and malodorous exotic oriental shrimp paste that members of the Empire can find.

Popular brands are Big Cock shrimp paste and Thai Boy shrimp paste.

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