The Black Hairstreak Season Begins!

On the 3rd of June, I popped into Glapthorn Cow Pastures while I was visiting the north of the county. I was very pleased I did as despite the cloudy weather after a few minutes of patiently waiting I noticed a Black Hairstreak flying along the tops of the blackthorns along the infamous third ride. I explored a bit further around the reserve and after a short while I saw a total of 7 Black Hairstreaks but unfortunately, none of them descended in reach of the camera. On the afternoon of the 5th of June I returned and this time the weather was much better with lengthy sunny spells and it wasn’t long before a few were low down nectaring. In total, I managed to record 15 around the reserve and here are a couple photos from the day.

Now numbers are building up it would now be a very good time to explore new areas to try and find new populations. Any local blackthorns would be good to check as this is a very under-recorded species and new colonies are found all the time. The key to finding Black Hairstreaks is patience, if you have a good looking area of blackthorns local to you all you need to do is stand next to it on a sunny and still day and watch for any butterflies flying around the top. You may well need binoculars or a camera to clinch the identification when any butterflies settle as they often stay high up in the canopy. If you do see any in new areas please do let me know by adding any records to iRecord or sending me an email, preferably including a photo if possible.

If you’re heading the Glapthorn Cow Pastures you may also want to visit Harry’s Park Wood as just inside the northern entrance there is a very vocal Wood Warbler which has been belting out its beautiful song and showing very well.