www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Purple Hairstreaks are out in force at Alners Gorse reserve in Dorset at the moment.

However I don't think there are many more like this individual?? Only managed a couple of very hurried shots before it zipped off into the woods.

Hi Mark - I've never seen anything like that. I wonder if it's an individual that's part of a mark-release-recapture analysis.

Cheer,

- Pete

Totally baffled by it Pete!

I saw this when you first posted and straight away thought 'mark and release' study - possibly to see if Purple Hairstreaks disperse? Had you thought about contacting Butterfly Conservation to see if they've given permission for a study of this nature or if they know of any Universities running a study on Purple Hairstreaks?

Great shots by the way, you've tempted me to make a visit

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That is a pretty good idea, I may well contact Butterfly Conservation.

I found this one well away from the "usual" Purple Hairstreak hotspots at the reserve so there may be something in the survey thing. How on earth do you put a white spot on a Hairstreak wing though for goodness sake?!

Mark.

I'm not convinced it's a man made mark myself. Zooming in on the second picture you can just make out the individual scales around the edge of the white patch suggesting its a natural lack of pigment. Also if I were to do a mark and release on a hairstreak I'd be marking the underside to maximise the chances of marked ones being observed.

Looking at the prominence of the veins running through the white patch, isn't just an absence of scales rather than unpigmented scales? I think we've seen things like this where wings get stuck together in the pupa or during emergence e.g. http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6446&p=63869, or maybe just the scales were worn off for some reason?

I tried a bit of enhancement of the area and the scale lines appear to continue under the white patch. Could it simply have been 'bombed' by a passing bird while basking with open wings?

A very interesting set of theories guys, thanks.

The only thing I can add is that it definitely looked like the white colouring was actually "part of the butterfly" rather than something independently applied?

Mark.