Local Purple Hairstreaks

I found a colony of White-letter Hairstreaks in the middle of Manor Farm Wood, Rampton. I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone mentioning this species in this woodland before. It’s a relatively young woodland. The butterflies were emerging from a tall blackthorn and coming fairly low to nectar on bramble and flitting back into the blackthorn. There are elms in the vicinity, the foodplant of this species’ larvae. I was then surprised to see another hairstreak flying in the top of a willow tree on the Lode-side edge of the same woodland – Purple Hairstreak! Male  Purple Hairstreak about 15 metres above my head As I watched I counted perhaps 9 or 10 Purple Hairstreaks and got photos of a few when they settled. Turned out that at least one or two of them were White-letter, but there is definitely a colony of Purple HS on this site. Not sure if either species have been noted here before. Les King Wood back towards Cottenham from this spot had a report of Green Hairstreak in 2020 and I caught up with that species there in 2021, but I have not seen them there this summer, sadly, but did see lots along Devil’s Dyke in Cambridgeshire when I went chasing the Adonis Blue and Dark Green Fritillary. Green Hairstreak on Devil’s Dyke, Cambs I have only previously seen Purple Hairstreak in Woodwalton Fen NNR (2021 and 2022) and Brampton Wood (2022), so as with the White-letter Hairstreaks, I was quite surprised to see them in this relatively young woodl...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs