It’s been a few years since I saw a Black Hairstreak, and the last few days I have been keeping an eye on sightings, and of course the weather forecast! Today was glorious and sunny and I had a spare afternoon, so I was off to Northamptonshire, to visit Glapthorn Cow Pastures. Despite the roadworks on A14, I arrived in just over an hour, hoping an afternoon would be long enough for a few sightings, and hopefully some pictures.
I needn’t have worried. For, after an hour, I had seen good numbers, and had all the photos I could want. Several other people were there too, and they confirmed what I had already noticed, that there had been a fantastic emergence this year. The best for many years! We collected around some bramble bushes, that had several Black Hairstreak feeding on them. We then simply took turns to get our images, and we all had plenty of chances for this.
One adult had clearly just emerged. It’s was crawling up a grass stem, and the wings were soft. Lots of pictures were taken. Then, after about half an hour, a male flew down, knocked her off her stem, and she flew off into the hedge.
However, it was the sheer numbers that was most impressive. After the photos, I had a walk around the site. Every hedge and clump of blackthorns had several flying around it, and the Hairstreaks were virtually ever-present throughout my visit. Here is a male.