I never seem to have much luck with hairstreaks... but it's probably my own lack of patience.
Despite numerous outings I didn't set eyes on a single brown hairstreak this year... and the only views I had of their purple cousins were distant ones. Y'know the kind I mean... where they are wheeling and flitting high in the canopy and despite feverishly flapping your arms you remain steadfastly rooted to the ground.
Black hairstreaks, however, were easy. I strolled into Glapthorn Cow Pastures early in the afternoon of 11th June, waltzed up and down a couple of the rides and encountered the delightful critters at almost every turn. I was already very happy with my afternoon's entertainment when I bumped into the site warden - who kindly directed me straight to the mother lode.
A dozen or so black hairstreaks - some very fresh specimens - were busy nectaring amongst a couple of large dewberry bushes... just at the perfect height for photographers. The lighting conditions were quite harsh - bright sunlight meant that one side of the butterfly was always almost too vivid, whilst the other was cast in deep shadow.
This picture gets the exposure all wrong. A dark butterfly against an over-exposed white flower which is too much in the foreground. But I still prefer it to the bog-standard, well-lit, well-focused, side views. I think it's the dynamic composition and the endeavour the critter appears to be showing...
I drove up from Brighton to a site named Hewins Wood in Bucks on June 11th - it was sunny for about 1/2 an hour after I got there and then it rained all afternoon!
