Stuart's Wildlife Diary: White Letter Hairstreak

Friday, 26 June 2020

Flitty Frits on Dartmoor

Birdy 2020 is no more. Not sure what happened to him, he seemed well and settled in the builders yard on the Saturday morning but on the Sunday morning before we left the house for our drive to Hayle it was eerily silent and there was no sign of the usual adult bird on sentry duty on the roof either. On returning from Hayle that afternoon there was still no sight or sound of the adults or Birdy and nor again on the Monday morning. It is possible he managed to get under the gate of the yard and on to the main road or more likely he was taken out by a cat or even a rat as he had no real fear of anything and would sleep right out in the open, being oblivious to everything around him. A very sad end to this years breeding attempt by our Herring Gull pair.

Tuesday 23rd June and with the beginning of a mini heatwave I decided to visit Grenofen again for a walk. It was a total contrast to last weeks visit with hot and humid and sunny conditions and as a result there were plenty of insects around including very active and fast flying butterflies.

I regularly saw fritillaries flitting about but they rarely settled for more than a few seconds if at all but I did manage to get some decent views of a very worn Dark Green Fritillary as it occassionally returned to briefly rest on the same Bracken frond. I also managed to get some excellent views of a very showy Silver Washed Fritillary as it dashed around a small clearing and occasionally perched low down on bushes and I also managed to get a record shot of a briefly settled High Brown Fritillary too.

Dark Green Fritillary

Silver Washed Fritillary

High Brown Fritillary

Ringlet, Red Admiral, Brimstone, Meadow Brown, Comma and Large White were also seen and there were good numbers of Beautiful Demoiselles and a few Golden Ringed Dragonfly flying around too. A Long Horn Beetle was a nice find flying around before landing briefly on the bracken. My first Hummingbird Hawkmoth of the year was a nice surprise too briefly feeding on bramble flowers.

Golden Ringed Dragonfly

Long Horn Beetle

Bird wise it was quiet in the heat but Tree Pipit, Yellowhammer, Siskin, Goldcrest, Buzzard, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Swallow were all seen with Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler all heard still singing away.

Wednesday 24th June was another scorching hot day and with another night shift looming I headed over to Central Park in the morning for another look for White Letter Hairstreaks and this time I was in luck with a very smart looking individual giving excellent views feeding on bramble flowers.

White Letter Hairstreak

Green-veined White and Comma were also seen in the Park and nearby in Ford Park Cemetery Marbled White, Meadow Brown and Ringlet were flying around with a Cinnabar Moth and 6-Spot Burnets. Overhead a Peregrine circled higher and higher on the thermals and Swifts and Gulls feasted on flying ants.

With the warm weather I have had the moth box out in the back yard but the catches have been small although I did find my first Small Magpie, Crassa unitella and Rustic/Uncertain of the year.

Small Magpie

Crassa unitella

Rustic/Uncertaim

Tuesday, 9 July 2019

More White Letter Hairstreaks

With the good weather holding and more reports on the internet of white letter hairstreaks in Central Park I decided to go for another look on Friday 5th July. I didn't get to the Park until 12:30, later than planned, but I knew that the hairstreaks had been seen that morning so I was quite hopeful.

A butterflier was just leaving as I arrived at the site, he had seen the hairstreaks but recent activity had slackened off. However within a few minutes of him leaving a hairstreak flew right past me at eye level and appeared to land in a cottoneaster bush. I eventually located it right at the top of the bush and it briefly showed out in the open before disappearing back amongst the leaves and flowers.

White Letter Hairstreak

I scanned the nearby elm tree and eventually picked up 2 hairstreaks tussling together at regular intervals right at the top of the tree and occassionally resting on the leaves. I also scanned the cottoneaster bush regularly and eventually found a hairstreak feeding on the flowers at eye level and which allowed a very close approach.

White Letter Hairstreak

It was a bit tatty looking but I'm not complaining and from the markings a different individual from the one seen in the bush earlier. I only saw 2 hairstreaks together at any one time (the 2 in the top of the elm tree) but there could have been 3 or 4 individuals present in total.

White Letter Hairstreak