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A thread in which to post your favourite photo(s) of 2011 of Black Hairstreak.

Part of a series inspred by ChrisC's thread about 'Favourite Photos' and hopefully growing throughout the winter until all 58 British species have been covered.

Details of places, dates, times and circumstances also appreciated. Feel free to contribute observations of behaviour, personal encounters, anecdotes, anything really...

OK, I'll start. This specimen's looking a bit rough, but it comes with good memories. I'd taken my son with me to Monk's Wood to look for BH. We had good instructions where to go to look for them, but stopped at the entrance to the wood to photograph some obliging Speckled Woods and Large Skippers posing nicely. After some minutes of that, I packed up my camera and tripod to move on, then noticed this little BH had been sitting right next to me at knee height all that time. Although we saw several more at the main site, none of them came down from the tops of the bushes, so this was the only one I captured on camera.


Monk's Wood, 5-Jun-11. Sony DSLR-A700, Tamron 180/3.5 macro, 1/160s f/8.0, iso200

Female black hairstreaks dive into shady bushes to lay. This one interspersed periods of ovipositing with taking honeydew to boost her energy levels:



Guy

i'll just sit back and admire this thread as yet to see one

Hi Chris,

You and me both.

ChrisC wrote:i'll just sit back and admire this thread as yet to see one

We'll stun everyone next year with our pictures!

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

Cracking image and a great lesson for me dilettante - I'll always keep looking all around me and try not to get too focused from now on!

Chris and Mark I too am looking forward to this thread as I too have yet to see Black Hairstreak. The date and site information should prove very useful for planning prospective trips. Chris am I right in thinking that you live near Ringwood - if so we could sort out a trip next year to some sites as I'm just up the road in Salisbury?

All the rest of you that will post on this thread I'm looking forward to the shots...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I never seem to have much luck with hairstreaks... but it's probably my own lack of patience.

Despite numerous outings I didn't set eyes on a single brown hairstreak this year... and the only views I had of their purple cousins were distant ones. Y'know the kind I mean... where they are wheeling and flitting high in the canopy and despite feverishly flapping your arms you remain steadfastly rooted to the ground.

Black hairstreaks, however, were easy. I strolled into Glapthorn Cow Pastures early in the afternoon of 11th June, waltzed up and down a couple of the rides and encountered the delightful critters at almost every turn. I was already very happy with my afternoon's entertainment when I bumped into the site warden - who kindly directed me straight to the mother lode.

A dozen or so black hairstreaks - some very fresh specimens - were busy nectaring amongst a couple of large dewberry bushes... just at the perfect height for photographers. The lighting conditions were quite harsh - bright sunlight meant that one side of the butterfly was always almost too vivid, whilst the other was cast in deep shadow.

This picture gets the exposure all wrong. A dark butterfly against an over-exposed white flower which is too much in the foreground. But I still prefer it to the bog-standard, well-lit, well-focused, side views. I think it's the dynamic composition and the endeavour the critter appears to be showing...

celery wrote: This picture gets the exposure all wrong. A dark butterfly against an over-exposed white flower which is too much in the foreground. But I still prefer it to the bog-standard, well-lit, well-focused, side views. I think it's the dynamic composition and the endeavour the critter appears to be showing...

And I like the way the flower seems to be lighting up the butterfly's 'face' like a sunlamp.

Likewise I have still to see BH so I'm enjoying everyones photographs.

I put a lot of leg work in this year hoping that I might find BH in Cranleigh, Surrey, but I failed in my endevour.

Susie wrote: I put a lot of leg work in this year hoping that I might find BH in Cranleigh, Surrey, but I failed in my endevour

You're in good company there, lol. Been a wee while since any were convincingly reported...as far as I'm aware.

My first encounter with Black Hairstreak was only last year, the 21st June. Sami and I had just bumped into Adrian Riley at Strumpshaw, where the Swallowtails were in hiding thanks to a cool wind and scuttling cloud cover. He suggested we "hightail it inland" for Black Hairstreaks - and so we did. The weather picked up immensely as we passed into the realm of Jack and Nick B. Pretty soon we arrived at Brampton Wood and headed inwards. Within 20mins we were standing in an area of trampled grass next to brambles and blackthorn. No word of a lie, barely three minutes after our arrival a stunning Black Hairstreak jinked its way over the blackthorn, whirled in front of us and settled 4ft from my incredulous face!!! Unfortunately Sami was 15ft away and the camera was slung around her neck, darnit. Over the next hour or so we had several other visits, none closer than 20ft before we wandered onwards through the woods. Ringlets were seen, the first of the year for us, and numerous dormouse boxes were nailed into place on tree trunks. Soon we arrived at a set of clearings where we were treated to a magnificent display of several more Black Hairstreaks, zigzagging up and down the blackthorn, across the low canopy and whirling in dogfight-fashion between taller birches. None came as close as that first individual, and our pics are too shoddy to reproduce here, but it was an amazing experience and one we won't forget for a long while, if ever.

Gibster.

I'm still waiting to get a 'perfect' shot of a Black Hairstreak, but I almost got one earlier this year at Bernwood Meadows / Bernwood Forest. This adult was surprisingly only head high, before falling to the grass for a couple of minutes. I reckon it was newly emerged. I couldn't quite get a square-on view of him/her without disturbing the butterfly, so as we often do, you just get the best photo that you can .

I love those reserves in Oxfordshire, and if you can get to them in the right week in June / July with good sunshine, I think it's a magical little place. Black Hairstreaks are amongst my favourite of British Butterflies. Not sure what it is about them that does it for me...maybe it's their socks plus the red...

Michael

I too have yet to see a Black Hairstreak I drove up from Brighton to a site named Hewins Wood in Bucks on June 11th - it was sunny for about 1/2 an hour after I got there and then it rained all afternoon!

Still it's good to have something to aim for next year...

Here's another from the same session at Glapthorn...



...oh, and you 'southern softies' really should try to get out and about more often...

This shot was taken in less than ideal conditions at Bernwood Meadows, Bucks, on June 5th 2011. It was cloudy and breezy, with spits of rain in the air. I found this individual at just the right height in a blackthorn bush.

Here's my favourite shot of a Black Hairstreak, taken at Monks Wood on a day when they were posing nicely and in good numbers. This one is lingering on a blackthorn leaf which had earlier been dipped in Lucozade (other orange flavoured isotonic drinks are also available).
Neil