Emilia Fox - Fox Flutters Into Butterfly Charity Role

British actress EMILIA FOX has become patron of a new butterfly sanctuary in the U.K., after falling in love with the winged insects when they fluttered overhead on her wedding day.

The Pianist star is backing the huge $40 million (£27 million) Butterfly World in southern England, which has been founded to preserve the future of the delicate creatures in Britain.

Fox was asked to support the project by lepidopterist Clive Farrell, the expert who helped her find different varieties of butterflies to flutter around her as she married her now ex-husband Jared Harris in 2005.

She tells Britain's Daily Telegraph, "I get a lot of requests to be involved in things and I think you have to pick the ones you really care about and can do something to help. I was immediately bowled over by Clive's passion and jumped at the chance.

"Butterflies are the canaries in the coal mine as far as conversation is concerned. Their fragility exposes what's going on around us."