White-letter Hairstreak.

 Possibly my favourite UK butterfly is the White-letter Hairstreak, a butterfly that has become increasingly scarce due to its only larval foodplant being Elm trees which have suffered enormously in recent years through Dutch Elm Disease, resulting in the butterfly losing many colonies.

I do still have a tiny colony very near to my house, but all I generally see these days here is a couple of males high up in the trees being very territorial. Long gone are the days when I could walk from home to some large colonies along the River Cuckmere.

This year I heard about a large colony in Eastbourne, so David and I headed there one day in the summer hoping to find the colony. It did take a little time before we stumbled across them, but eventually we did find good numbers of them, although they were extremely difficult to photograph as they were generally just out of reach, and with the sun behind them much of the time. However, with some patience and determination, and a 2nd visit, we did get a few photos.

Male White-letter Hairstreak.

At one point I wandered off to see if I could find any nectaring butterflies  nearby, when I stumbled across a female that was obviously egg laying, walking amongst the Elm leaves. Although I didn't actually see her lay any eggs it was clear what she was up to. The female is even better looking than the male, with longer tails, and also a more pronounced 'W' shape on the wing, which is where the butterfly gets its name. At one point she stopped to rest on an Elm leaf, which is when I managed to get my best shot of the day.

Female White-letter Hairstreak.

A few of my other local images from the latter half of the summer include a very lucky sighting near Beachy Head, when Lisa and I were doing a little recce for a tour I was leading. After seeing many butterflies, mainly Chalkhill Blue and Common Blue, I spotted a Clouded Yellow. This was a special butterfly as it was also a female 'helise' form. This is much paler than the usual colour, and was also Lisa's first ever helise Clouded Yellow.

After Lisa had got a few photos I decided to also have a go, and this is when I got lucky. I only took 2 photos, but on the 2nd one the butterfly took flight. This normally results in a totally rubbish photo, but for once the image was quite sharp.

Female Clouded Yellow. (helise form).

Taking flight!!

The following photos were taken on various walks over the South Downs National Park during August and September.

Female Common Blue.

Male Common Blue.

Small Copper.

Male Brown Argus.

Silver-spotted Skipper.

Male Brimstone.

Back to Summer.

 With most of my posts recently being from some very special trips, I realise I missed quite a few of my special local days that hold some great memories, and some notable sightings and photos.

Going all the way back to mid June, when the weather was particularly good I had several days close together when things went rather well. Including a walk to my local meadow that I monitor for wildlife. In just a very short time there I managed to get a few worthwhile photos. Nothing particularly rare, but some extremely fresh individuals of both Comma and Small and Large Skipper.

Comma that posed well twice for me.

Male Small Skipper.

Male Large Skipper.

The attractive and delicate Grass Vetchling.

The next day I was doing a butterfly survey in a local woodland, when I spotted a female Honey Buzzard flying overhead. These birds are gradually increasing in number locally, but are still considered pretty scarce, so was very pleasing to see.

Female Honey Buzzard.

This woodland is also good for dragonflies and damselflies. There were several Beautiful Demoiselles flying with males holding territory.

Male Beautiful Demoiselle.

My visit also coincided with the first Silver-washed Fritillaries on the wing. These very large butterflies are spectacular when very fresh, and it was good to see so many fresh ones flying up and down the rides.

Male Silver-washed Fritillary.

Near the large pond there were many damselflies, with some mating couples of both Azure and Large Red Damselflies.

Mating Azure Damselflies.

Whilst admiring a very nice Common Spotted Orchid I noticed that a Crab Spider had caught a hoverfly for its lunch.

An unlucky Hoverfly in the jaws of a Crab Spider.

On another day that week David and I went to look for the beautiful Scarlet Tiger, a moth that I've been following now for some years. I have always struggled getting a fully open wing with the scarlet hindwings showing. This one had almost certainly just emerged and possibly hadn't even had its first flight. That may well be why it behaved so well by showing off its beautiful colours.

Scarlet Tiger.

An Aberrant Blog.

 Having seen all of the British butterfly species several times the fascination remains, but I now look for more than just the butterfly. Now I enjoy looking for immature stages as well as aberrant individuals. These being butterflies that have developed markings or colours that are not the normal and can make a common butterfly a rare version of that species.

You can never know when one will appear, but casually checking anything that you see flying or just sitting there, occasionally one will catch the eye as being a little different.

Over the years my rarest finds have probably been common butterfly species including a certain Large Skipper and Chalkhill Blue. The Large Skipper remains the only aberrant pallida ever recorded in Sussex, and was found whilst looking for White-letter Hairstreaks back in July 2013. The Chalkhill Blue was a bilateral gynandromorph which means the butterfly is split down the middle with one side being male and the other side female. As females are slightly bigger than the males, this actually means that half the body is bigger than the other side. This gives a distortion along the length of the abdomen as well as the wings being one side the blue of the male and the other wing being the brown of the female!!  I spotted this one in July 2019 when it flew past me whilst I was looking for Grayling. It was a particularly good year for Chalkhill Blue and there were thousands on the site. Fortunately, I managed to find the butterfly and get 3 grab shots before it vanished never to be seen again.

Large Skipper ab. pallida.

Chalkhill Blue bilateral gynandromorph.

In recent weeks I have been lucky to find 3 notable aberrant butterflies, and all of them on my many walks on my normal patch. The first one was just a Small Heath, one of the commonest butterflies I get along the valley. However, this one caught my eye as being a little different, brighter and with more contrast than usual, as it flew past. I was extremely lucky at this point, as a small heavy cloud covered the sun and the butterfly briefly went to roost on tall grass. On closer inspection I could see it had an enlarged eye spot on the wing. It also had 2 white dots in the eye spot instead of the normal one. After getting a couple of shots, I disturbed the butterfly and it flew a few metres before landing again on tall grass. I then managed to photograph the other side of it. When I got home I realised that this side was actually different again, with a different shaped eye spot and 3 small white dots in it. I sent the photos to the Sussex recorder, and he suggested that I send the photos to the top UK aberrant butterfly expert. He came back with the name of the aberrant as ab. anticrassipuncta addenda. It actually has 2 names due to the enlarged eye spot being the first part and the addenda due to the extra white spots.

                                Both sides of the Small Heath ab. anticrassipuncta addenda.

Exactly a week after finding the Small Heath, I was walking the other way along the valley. The weather was not particularly good, so I had decided to only take binoculars with me, as it was highly unlikely that I would find anything of interest, and the camera does get heavy during a long walk. However, towards the end of the valley the weather started to improve and a few insects started to fly around. I then spotted a very fresh, but pale straw coloured Small Copper. Strangely, this was in exactly the same spot as I found a Red-veined Darter dragonfly last year, and that day too I hadn't brought the camera. That darter was the only Sussex record of the species in 2024, and the insect fortunately hung around for me to get home and come back with the camera. This time I did have a secret weapon as Lisa was at home doing some correspondence and I was pretty sure that she would want to see this particularly rare specimen, so after contacting her she drove up to the car park with my camera as well as hers. The butterfly was also easy to re-find as it was still in the same area, and we both got several photos. I then contacted the aberrant expert again, and this time the result was that the Small Copper was an ab. lacticolor. 

I actually walked along the valley several times over the following week and each time the butterfly was still there in exactly the same spot. Gradually it began to look a little bit more tatty, but it still remained, sometimes chasing off rivals as well as chasing the female Small Coppers. It was certainly a very territorial butterfly. It remained in that small area, no bigger than the footprint of my house, for 10 days after I had found it.

Small Copper ab. lacticolor.

The photos above are from the first day that I found the Small Copper. The photo below is from 3 days later.

Small Copper ab. lacticolor.

The third aberrant find was actually on the final day of the Small Copper being present, and was only around 200 metres away from it. It is also not such a rare aberrant as the other 2. This one was a Comma butterfly. The Comma gets its name from the white mark on the underside of the wing which looks very much like a comma mark. Occasionally the 'comma' mark becomes a full circle instead, and any Comma butterfly that shows this is regarded as an ab. o-album.

I have seen this a couple of times over the years, but not for some time. As the butterfly was in the middle of a bush, I did struggle to get close enough for a photograph as the brambles were all inter-connected, but on its 3rd landing, I got one grab shot before it flew. That was the end of it. I did hang around for a while hoping to see the butterfly again, and I also walked the same way the following day, but with no further sighting.

Comma ab. o-album.

With 3 aberrant butterflies in less than 3 weeks, I will now probably have to wait for ages before another, but then again, it could be much sooner. One of the delights of being outside as much as I can searching for wildlife moments.

Brown Hairstreaks Move East.

 Ever since I started to get interested in wildlife over 55 years ago, the Brown Hairstreak has always been a rare insect in East Sussex, whereas in West Sussex, it has always been quite common, despite being elusive.

I have searched for many years in sites across East Sussex that I have heard of occasional sightings, or those that looked as though they should hold the insect. So many hours spent, and yet I haven't had a single sighting east of Ditchling Common.

Well, that was until July 24th this year when I was doing my annual 2nd brood Wall Brown count. I was partly along the top path leading away from High and Over car park, when I saw a butterfly fluttering around some Blackthorn and Hawthorn bushes. Immediately I thought it looked like a probable Brown Hairstreak, but I needed it to land before I could confirm it. Fortunately, I managed to keep it in sight until it landed near the top of the Hawthorn and on looking through the binoculars, it was clearly a Brown Hairstreak. After walking this path reasonably regularly for well over 30 years at last my first Brown Hairstreak on my patch. The butterfly soon took flight again, but this time dropping down lower before settling again, in a position that I could get a record shot. It was a male Brown Hairstreak. This was even better news, as males generally hold a territory near where they emerged as the butterfly, which meant that there was a good chance that a female had laid eggs near here last year. Only time would tell if this was true, as other sightings would hopefully materialise over the next few weeks.

The Male Brown Hairstreak.

As it turned out, it was an excellent day, as apart from the Hairstreak, I also had a great Wall Brown count of 111 on my 4 mile circuit, my 3rd highest count.

Then, on 6th August, I was in the same area just hoping for another sighting. I spotted a Bordered Straw moth settle on the path in front of me which I photographed. Then as I started walking again I saw a female Brown Hairstreak settled on a leaf just by me. As it started fluttering about it became obvious that it was egg laying. I followed the butterfly for some time, as it flew from Blackthorn bush to another, in its search for egg laying sites. This was the proof I was after that eggs were laid nearby last year. It then improved even more on August 23rd with another egg laying female along Cradle Valley.

The Bordered Straw.

My first Seaford Female Brown Hairstreak.

On top of these sightings, Lisa and I went to another site near Arlington, where I had searched many times over the years, but had never seen them. On this occasion we were amazed to find 4 female Brown Hairstreaks over quite a large area. Once again, all of these were egg laying, so hopefully Brown Hairstreaks will become a much more regular sight in my local area in years to come.

With leading a Sussex butterfly tour during August, I have also been looking at several West Sussex sites. These included Burgess Hill and Steyning. On my first recce at the Burgess Hill site, I had just picked up my repaired binoculars from Park Cameras. I walked from there to the site and almost immediately saw the first hairstreak. It was a female that was soon chased by a male. 2 further females were also seen very quickly.

Burgess Hill female Brown Hairstreak.

I then did a recce at Steyning a few days before the tour, but I only had a short while due to another commitment. Although I only saw a single Brown Hairstreak I did decide that this site would probably be the best one to take the group, and just 3 days later this is where we went. Leading a group to see Brown Hairstreak is always a worry, as often this butterfly remains elusive, but on the tour, relief was quickly forthcoming with a sighting straight away, followed shortly by another. We then had an extended sighting of an egg laying female as she flew from bush to bush. For the hour plus that we were at the site we had almost continuous views of the butterflies.

Steyning female Brown Hairstreak.

Lisa and I then went to Steyning to look for the Brown Hairstreaks. This is a special place for us as it's where we first met 4 years ago while we were both there looking for Brown Hairstreaks. It was probably near peak in the flight season when we went there this year. We were on our own when we arrived, and once again, we started seeing the butterflies almost straight away. Between us we saw around 10 in the couple of hours that we were there. I'm sure I have seen far more Brown Hairstreaks this year than I have seen in a year before. It has been a very good year for this species, in both numbers and new sites. With so many eggs laid hopefully next year will show further spread into East Sussex.

Brown Hairstreak egg.

Late Summer Dragon and Damselfly Highlights.

 Just a few days after returning from the Dolomites, Lisa and I were off to Wales to visit a couple of her friends from her University days. To be honest I was probably too tired to go, but with the chance of catching up with the Common Hawker dragonfly, a species that had escaped me before, it was an opportunity too good to miss, as well as meeting Carl and Clare again who were both perfect hosts during our short stay.

On the way to Cardiff we called into Newport Wetlands. Unfortunately, the weather was not particularly good for dragonflies, but we were pleased to see a few species, most notably, the Lesser Emperor.

The following day, we travelled to an area near Abergavenny where after climbing high we were pleased to find large numbers of Emerald Damselfly. After some time one of the males settled long enough for a few shots.

Emerald Damselfly.

We then climbed higher up the mountain and in a couple of acid pools we were delighted to finally catch up with the Common Hawker. These were extremely active, despite the weather once again deteriorating. I only had my macro lens which made it even worse, but I did enjoy simply watching the dragonflies. Lisa also found what was almost certainly an excuvia of the Common Hawker.

Probable Common Hawker excuvia.

We did see a few mating pairs of Common Hawker, but even these didn't settle anywhere in sight, so our only chance of photographing them was in flight, or when a female started to egg lay in the margins of the pool. It wasn't even worth me trying to photograph them in flight with my macro, so it was only when one female was egg laying more in the open that I borrowed Lisa's camera and zoom to photograph her that I got my first ever photo of a Common Hawker.

Female Common Hawker egg laying.

Other notable species we saw there were Golden-ringed, Keeled Skimmer and Black Darter, but the other species that I was hoping to see, the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly was not forthcoming. Little did I know at that time that I was going to get an opportunity much closer to home soon!!

Earlier in the year I had heard through the grapevine, that a colony of Scarce Emerald Damselflies had been found close to home. I had only seen this species once before in the UK and that was some years ago in Essex. The week before I was told where the site was I had been seeing this species in Bulgaria, where it is known as the Small Spreadwing. It is always nice to get local sightings though, so at my earliest opportunity I visited the small site and almost immediately found a single, followed by a mating pair of this Sussex rarity.

Scarce Emerald Damselflies mating.

Having seen the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly in Bulgaria, but missing it in Wales, I was very surprised when I heard that a very small colony had been found in Sussex by a friend. Even more so, when a couple of weeks later, a 2nd Sussex colony turned up. There has presumably been an influx of these species into the southern counties. It certainly is exciting times for studying dragonflies and damselflies. This was a totally new species for me in the UK.

Male Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly.

The 2nd site also held fresher individuals. The original finder also had seen a mating pair, although on our visit we only found males.

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly.

During the late summer I have also seen and photographed a few other species, in sites such as Ashdown Forest and my local patch. A few of my favourite images follow.

Male Southern Migrant Hawker.

Female Migrant Hawker.

Male Southern Hawker.

Male Willow Emerald.

Male White-legged Damselfly.

Male Small Red Damselfly.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly on Heather.