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Green Hairstreak - Favourite Photo of 2019

Week 6

Another week closer to the Social and with temperatures in single digits another week to spend looking back and reminiscing about butterfly days past.

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

My favourite Green Hairstreak photograph was of this fresh female that I came across flying low over the ground and regularly stopping to nectar at bluebell flowers. I was interested to note that she was accessing the nectar by inserting her proboscis between the petals at the base of the flowers. Presumably her proboscis was not long enough to reach the prize from the open end of the flower, thus inadvertently denying any pollination assistance to the bluebell.



http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

I've been after a Green Hairstreak on a Bluebell for a while now so I was very happy to find a couple flitting around some in Abbots Wood in Late May, quite surprised to find one this fresh so late though! I also like this one earlier in the season also from Abbots Wood playing hard to get and finally my very lucky and totally unplanned upperside shot

When I arrived back in the UK in August last year, I immediately set about looking for suitable local sites for green hairstreaks. The main place I used to go when I lived here no longer has public access so I had to find somewhere new. I identified three likely spots and began visiting in April (they usually start flying in March in Switzerland). Absolutely nothing. But I persisted, in the same places, and on 14th May finally found them. I had been searching too early, it seemed. I was quite ecstatic and remember that day with crystal clarity. Here is one of the hairstreaks I saw then:



He's long, long dead now, but vividly alive in my memory.

Guy

bugboy wrote:I've been after a Green Hairstreak on a Bluebell for a while now so I was very happy to find a couple flitting around some in Abbots Wood in Late May...

That's a little game I enjoy playing too, BB! Iridescent green on polished blue is always irresistible.

My earliest sighting this year was the 3rd of March on the outskirts of Marseille (a date which is now barely 3 months away again ).
Chris

Chris Jackson wrote:My earliest sighting this year was the 3rd of March on the outskirts of Marseille (a date which is now barely 3 months away again

Probably be early May when I get to see my first, Chris, so still over 5 months to go!

Green Hairstreak

Despite not getting that many images of Green Hairstreak this year I saw them at a number of sites and in good numbers and I still struggled to simply choose one image. In the end it came down to two and I justify including them both as they both meet different criteria for my selection of my fave.
The first was taken at my Duke Site. It was my second of the year and I chose it as it is in such good nick, is nicely posed and is on Gorse giving it a really vivid background to show off its contrasting green colour.
The second came from Noar Hill during an epic session with the Dukes there. I chose it as, for me, it encapsulates the cheeky yet feisty nature of the Greenstreak. There it was playing a game of hide and seek with me when another flew in and this one suddenly popped out of hiding to check out the competition. Having watched the intruder exiting this little fella gave me a cheeky little wink and we continued out game.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

The essence of springtime, with its many beautiful shades of green matching the glorious burgeoning growth in the countryside.

As far as I knew, the closest spot to me for this butterfly was at Bedfont Lakes Country Park, and 2019 was a good year with the species showing well both north and south of the railway line. This is one from the south side. (1st May)However... Later in the year, I was chatting to some folk who are contracted to regularly monitor butterfly numbers on the "Heathrow Biodiversity Site" which forms part of my local patch, and they showed me a photo of a Green Hairstreak seen there on 24th April. This means that they have likely been right on my doorstep all this time with me being unaware... I do know where to look in 2020!

It is hard to single out particular examples as they turned up in many of the spots I visit, but I think the very first one I saw in 2019 stands out, as it was on the early date of 19th April, when I was failing to find any precocious Dukes at Noar Hill.I also like the apple-green shade of this one from Denbies on 30th April. Dave

The warm spell round the middle of April brought this species out early - 18th April is the earliest I've ever seen them in south Wales:

Although I saw Green Hairstreaks at a few sites this year I didn't take any particularly good photos. The nicely marked example below from Bishops Hill in Warwickshire was about the best I managed.
Cheers,

Neil.