Brown Hairstreak at Warmley Forest Park
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:00 pm
I know it's late in the season and I didn't quite believe it with the last two visits ( http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... .php?t=739 ) but I'm as convinced as I can be that brown hairstreak is at Warmley Forest Park near Bristol. There is plently of blackthorn that is in the slightly scruffy state that the butterflies apparently like, with lots of sucker growth at ground level. There are young mixed deciduous trees nearby with several ash and oak.
I got to the location that I checked out yesterday about 11am this morning and almost immediately saw one flying at about head height along a track between the young trees and the blackthorn. Flight was fast but with very erratic dipping and bobbing. It disappeared by or on an ash tree.
Other butterflies currently in the vicinity are speckled wood and small copper but neither look very much like BH. Small copper are substantially smaller and paler in flight than BH, and tend to fly low along open grass, athough they can suddenly veer up and over a hedge. Except when startled, speckled wood flap their wings more slowly and fly in a more leisurely meandering manner. They're larger than BH and greyish brown in flight. The gold colour of BH visible in flight was unmistakeable, especially when I was buzzed by one or two which veered off at the last second.
Within the space of an hour I sighted maybe a dozen although many sightings may have been of the same individual. Each sighting was lost when it settled. Sometimes one appeared to settle at just above ground height but I still couldn't find it. There are no nectaring plants around the location now which means they have no incentive to show themselves, and, needless to say, I got no photographs. By 12:30pm they had all disappeared completely.
Weather permitting I'll get back there again tomorrow, if possible a little earlier than today to get a GPS location, and who knows, maybe a photo, although judging by today's fruitless chasing around I don't hold out much hope for the latter.
All this leads to two questions, should I inform Butterfly Conservation in case this is a new site for the species, and when and where should I look for eggs to confirm a breeding colony?
I got to the location that I checked out yesterday about 11am this morning and almost immediately saw one flying at about head height along a track between the young trees and the blackthorn. Flight was fast but with very erratic dipping and bobbing. It disappeared by or on an ash tree.
Other butterflies currently in the vicinity are speckled wood and small copper but neither look very much like BH. Small copper are substantially smaller and paler in flight than BH, and tend to fly low along open grass, athough they can suddenly veer up and over a hedge. Except when startled, speckled wood flap their wings more slowly and fly in a more leisurely meandering manner. They're larger than BH and greyish brown in flight. The gold colour of BH visible in flight was unmistakeable, especially when I was buzzed by one or two which veered off at the last second.
Within the space of an hour I sighted maybe a dozen although many sightings may have been of the same individual. Each sighting was lost when it settled. Sometimes one appeared to settle at just above ground height but I still couldn't find it. There are no nectaring plants around the location now which means they have no incentive to show themselves, and, needless to say, I got no photographs. By 12:30pm they had all disappeared completely.
Weather permitting I'll get back there again tomorrow, if possible a little earlier than today to get a GPS location, and who knows, maybe a photo, although judging by today's fruitless chasing around I don't hold out much hope for the latter.
All this leads to two questions, should I inform Butterfly Conservation in case this is a new site for the species, and when and where should I look for eggs to confirm a breeding colony?