White-letter Hairstreak egg hunt

[Liz Goodyear]

Good morning everyone
This is very short notice but there will be white letter hairstreak egg hunt on a tree tomorrow for eggs (23rd January) - we plan to start around 10 o'clock but anyone is welcome to come along during the morning. We will probably carry on until about 1 o'clock unless it is very cold or wet. I am not going to look at the forecast! It has fallen over in recent gales and all of the tree is just about accessible - we want to find out how many eggs are on the tree and where the preferred laying place might be. It isn't a huge tree but it is well budded and worth checking. I assume at some point the council will want to clear it away but I can't believe it will be a priority on their part. It on a wide road verge just north of Ware (Hertfordshire) close to the A10 sliproad/old A10.
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=53 ... 16325&lm=0
I am not totally sure where the best place to park will be but at a last resort you should be able to park in the Wodson Park carpark - there is a play area and all sorts of things go on there.
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=53 ... 15755&lm=0
You will need to wrap up and bring some hot drink, and glasses if you normally wear them for close work, gloves, binoculars or hand lens etc. - ideally a good hand lens. We will bring pen and paper for noting down the egg locations - someone might like to volunteer to do the writing down. We will also bring chalk to mark the branches as we check them
If anyone is interested in coming let me know through the forum
Liz Goodyear

[Liz Goodyear]

I am not back home and slowly warming up

So did we come to any conclusion after the equivilent of 8 man hours searching a tree on a cold winter's morning?

We did come to a conclusion
The conclusion was that there weren't enough eggs to come to any conclusion. To be precise we found 18 including 1 old egg from 2009/2010! There was no area preference on the tree but 10 eggs were just under buds and 7 on growth joints plus 1 elsewhere.

2 had holes in but were not hatched (last season growth) so probably parasitised , 1 was collapsed

We think in retrospect this was a very good exercise but the tree's actual location was the reason for the lack of eggs, it was very exposed to open fields facing north. It was part of a long length of elm and I could imagine there were more suitable trees in the row - if we had been warmer we might have stayed longer and tested some of the other trees. It was well budded - probably smooth leaved so quite nice elm to search although our preferred elm is always wych elm.

Liz

[Gibster]

Hi there,

I'm very keen to find my own WLH eggs asap. Could you give any hints and tips please? Purple Hairstreak eggs are easy. I've found Brown Hairstreak eggs too. But absolutely zippo when searching elms (other than overwintering Coleophora cases and the occasional ladybird). I read that many hundreds of twigs may need to be searched before finding success. Why is this (or is that info inaccurate?)

Seriously, any help is appreciated! I live in Epsom, Surrey. I found WLH in a wood near to me last year. Near Wych Elms and suckering Elm, I think. At what height should I be concentrating my efforts? Are the eggs same size as Purple Hairstreak eggs (obviously they're UFO shaped, not spherical)? Do they show up easily? Underside/upperside? Young growth? Near tips/buds? Shaded/full sun? North/South side of a thicket? Isolated trees/clumps? Will they lay on suckering elms if Wych Elms are available? Etc etc etc!

Many thanks in advance (to anybody!)

Gibster.

[Liz Goodyear]

Start by looking around these pages. I find them easy to find but then I have probably found more than normal!
http://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.u ... m_tips.php
http://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.u ... /index.php

Wych elm is certainly easier to search but I have to say that your location is probably going to be a disadvantage. There is a black hole for elm in parts of the SE England caused I think by DED. English elm that is remaining is scrappy and diabolical to search.

However saying that there is a site in Ewell where you should find them - it was one of the targets in our project, probably the only one where a transect was walked TQ2361

Let me know how you get on
Liz

[Gibster]

Let me know how you get on

Hi there Liz,

many thanks for the links.There's a lot of info out there, I see. No excuses not to find the eggs now! I'm hoping to spend some time searching on 28th so I'll keep you informed (or, to check out my dailyish blog, click on the icon under my username to the right hand side of this posting.)

I'm assuming your TQ2361 site near me is Howell Hill? A dead cert for Small Blues and Marbled Whites with Surrey's largest variety of bird-sown Cotoneasters apparently! I know the volunteer warden quite well, she's very rightly proud of the site.

Fingers crossed for Friday....

Gibster.

[JohnR]

Don't forget to shoot any birds eating the cotoneaster seeds as they are contravening the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 schedule 9