Brown Hairstreak - Shropshire

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:27 pm

Visited Wem Moss in Shropshire on Sunday to search for adders. On the approach walk, passed a hedgerow of blackthorn and disturbed a chest-nut/tan coloured "lep" about the size of a Gatekeeper, which spiraled slowly over the hedgerow and down onto the other (inaccessible) side.

10 minutes later saw the same sort of butterfly/moth (possibly the same individual) fly over my head and into the canopy of a tall ash.

Is there anything I could have mistaken it for? The colour was strikingly chestnut/tan from a distance. The flight was not direct, it was erratic and spiraling, like that of hairstreaks.

I am confident I can rule out all other butterflies. So my question, to all the experienced BH hunters, is: "Which moths do you frequently mistake for BH at this time of year??!"

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:39 pm

SJ470341

Post by **Pete Eeles** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:18 am

The Vapourer moth (male) is often confused for Brown Hairstreak. See

http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=544

Although the colour is more orange than shown in this photo.

Cheers,

- Pete

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:31 pm

Could be! Though I've no way of telling.

I'm going to be really optimistic and do an egg hunt at the end of the year. I've looked on the NBN gateway and BH've been found up in that neck of the woods before (though it doesn't say when).

This is a part of the world where other butterflies have survived in isolated pockets (recall Large Heath at Whixall Moss, Silver-studded Blue at Prees Heath), so maybe just maybe I can find a new colony of BH!! The reserve is very quiet and rarely visited and BH are hard enough to see anyway so it would come as no surprise that it'd been overlooked.

*prepares self for disappointment*

Matsukaze · Post by **Matsukaze** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:22 pm

Hi Chris,

You can work out when the butterfly was recorded in the area on the NBN Gateway site by playing around with the 'years-between' criteria up near the top of the search screen.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 2:04 pm

Searched for 45 minutes today and found no eggs. Well at least I tried!

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:28 am

That's a shame, not finding eggs. Early in September I saw several of what I thought might be BH on one of my local patches, flying between blackthorn and ash. I intend to look for eggs shortly. Wish me luck.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:45 pm

Good luck! I'm sure in Bristol you'll have more luck. I got into butterflies when I lived in Bristol, I used to visit a wood behind Clifton suspension bridge (the name eludes me) in which there is an enormous glade full of silver washed fritillaries, white-letter hairstreak, blues, whites, the lot! I recorded my first Clouded Yellow there too.

I was hoping to redefine the Brown Hairstreaks distribution by finding a colony in Shropshire. Part of me is still convinced of what I saw and I've now decided I'm a lousy egg-hunter and shall return next summer to find the imagos!

This could turn into a lifelong disappointing cycle! I figure that these things are discovered with determination and not by giving up or convincing yourself that "they've never been recorded here, so I won't find any."

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:51 pm

Today, I spent about half an hour browsing the hedgerow where I had my sightings and also saw no eggs. I shall go back next August and check again.
As regards that woodland, that'll be Leigh Woods I expect. I haven't been there recently since I started butterfly hunting so may be worth a visit or two next year. Can you remember approximately how to get to that glade that you mentioned?

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:22 pm

...sure. If you look on http://www.multimap.com and select "aerial photo" once you've zoomed in on Leigh woods, you can clearly see the glade I refer to. I think it has formed on the site of an old spoil heap bang in the middle of the wood.

Anyway, directions are as follows. Enter the wood from North Rd. There are two parallel tracks from memory, take the higher one. You'll come to a clearing surrounded by Oak trees and popular with picnickers, dog-walkers and green woodpeckers (+purple hairstreak). If you continue on through the clearing and through the trees on a clearly defined path, you'll come to a much smaller clearing. Continue on the path and you come to a winding trail through the wood that opens out after 100m. You now have a choice of going straight on or taking a left turn. Turn left and behold! Silver washed fritillary are plentiful across the glade, white letter-hairstreak can be found on the right hand side as you approach, feeding on the flowers under the small elms.

Hope this helps! Did Pete ever add his "favourite spots" section... it would be a good place for things like this!

Post by **Pete Eeles** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:36 pm

Hi Chris,

No - I've not implemented any "favourite spots" elements yet. The idea would be to allow:

a) More detailed information on sites to be provided, including detailed instructions and site photos and

b) To be able to rate a site (using a 5-star rating system) with respect to each species found there.

But I'll hopefully get this in place before the spring

Cheers,

- Pete

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:11 am

Great description Chris. Many thanks!

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:27 am

Is this the clearing, at the top LH corner of the pic?
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?cp=5 ... lvl=17&v=1

Thanks.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:28 am

ah... your map is better than mine! You can see on the photo there is a large clearing (the one in my description) then NEE a smaller clearing (again in my description) and then NE a long green patch of no trees, which is the glade... not as far from the second clearing as I remembered!

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:53 am

Thanks. Got it now. I have a hand held GPS receiver and with a bit of fiddling of the aerial view I can probably get an OS grid reference to put into it. Roll on Spring!

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:31 pm

I've had two further searches for BH eggs at Warmley Forest Park and found nothing. There was a heron by the pond though, which was nice to see.

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:13 pm

Resurrecting this thread, I visited Leigh Woods today in the hope of seeing white letter hairstreak, white admiral or silverwashed fritillary. With a welcome bit of sunshine there were plenty of marbled white, meadow brown and ringlet in the meadow area by the cottages. But in the glade area around the old ruins I saw nothing for about 45 minutes of searching. Then I saw a SWF make quick circuit round some foliage near the northwest end of the glade. It looked like a male. It never reappeared and I got no pictures.
I noticed that several elm saplings in the glade looked dead or dying so WLH could be in trouble or already gone from this site.
Off round the corner to Ashton Court Meadow were more marbled white, ringlet and meadow brown, plus small skipper and six spot burnet. Following the sighting earlier in the month of DGH getting hit by an emperor dragonfly I had hoped to see others but ominously, all I saw were emperor dragonflies, several of them.
So in short, SWF is probably still at Leigh Woods but either numbers are well down or it's still a bit early for them.

Brown Hairstreak - Shropshire

Brown Hairstreak - Shropshire

exact location

could be!