Housing development and Brown Hairstreak?

[661-Pete]

Hi, I'm a newbie here and this is very much a shot in the dark.

A Planning application has recently been announced for a development of 43 houses on a greenfield site on the edge of our town (Burgess Hill, W Sussex). This is an extension of an existing development of 73 houses already under construction in an adjacent field. The proposed additional development is highly controversial - we are amongst the many who are trying to oppose it, for a number of reasons.

The new site is a field surrounded by many sloe bushes and trees, and looks like a possible site for Brown Hairstreak. I must admit, although we have known this area for over 30 years, we have never sought for the eggs in that field (most of it is private land, but there is a public footpath going along one edge of it). But we are familiar with a similar site on public access land, only about 1.5Km away, which is a known breeding ground for the butterfly - we have seen the eggs and also the markers presumably put there by volunteers doing the egg count.

So we have no way of telling if Brown Hairstreak also breed in the field in question. And of course this is not the right time of year to search for the eggs. But the time limit for objections to the new development is 15 August, which does not give us much time!

Once again I have no idea whether there's any mileage in the above, but I'd welcome some advice.

[MrSp0ck]

You can check suitable blackthorn for last years eggs they are still visible, on the joins to the main stem, they should have a hole in where the larva hatched in March/April. The Butterflies are out now, so you may be lucky again on a trip in early august.

[661-Pete]

Thanks. We went back to the site this afternoon; no luck searching the blackthorn; I'm rather doubtful that this really is a Brown Hairstreak site. I'll go to the other place, where they are known to breed, some time in the next few days, and inspect the bushes there, at least I'll know what I'm looking for!

Partly because of the local interest, I'm intrigued to learn more about this fairly rare species. We've booked ourselves onto a hunt towards the end of August, hopefully to see the adult butterflies - but that's not local to us. I'd also like to find out whether we can join in the local egg-count.

There are butterflies around, at any rate. Plenty of Gatekeepers, and I got this shot of a somewhat faded Ringlet just as I was leaving the site.