White-letter Hairstreaks in my Kent garden!

[Testudo Man]

Unfortunately, ive only had 3 separate sightings of WLH's in my garden this year!
No photos of these sightings either Im affraid.
To be fair, i havent really put the time/effort into garden watching this season.
Ive just been far too busy at work!

Note - Beyond my garden fence, up in the Oaks, i did sight several Purple Hairstreaks this year.

Maybe i will see some garden WLH action yet this season though?
Cheers Paul.

[Testudo Man]

Another season over, an no signs of any WLH's in my garden.
Things are not looking good......................could it be, that their habitat has been disturbed (in a big way) by all the work that is going on, on the M20???! The M20 runs close to my house, so yes, i think that all that bloody work, has not helped at all

[Testudo Man]

Holy thread revival Batman!!!

I opened the back door this morning(at 8.00am) an disturbed a WLH It flew around then landed on a paving slab (approx 5 feet from my door).
All week ive had a camera handy, but last night i packed it away upstairs in a bag!!!...By the time i had fetched the camera, came back downstairs, the WLH had gone, spent the next hour watching an waiting...nothing. Just had a 2nd sighting, it landed on our garden slide, didnt even get to turn the camera on, it flew over next door!

Its been approx 3 years since ive had any WLH sightings in my garden...................thats a long wait, but sometimes you have to wait for things to happen..................should hopefully get some pics sometime this week, the weather looks good...hot an slight winds, might drive the WLH's down into the garden for moisture? fingers crossed.

[Testudo Man]

A WLH was seen this morning, it landed on one of our Rose bushes...as usual, grabbed the camera asap, but the butterfly was gone!

Yesterday (Sunday) at 5.55pm, a Hairstreak dropped out of the sky, an landed on the netting that covers one of our paddling pools in the back garden...This time i grabbed the camera an managed to get a shot of the butterfly taking moisture from the wet netting!................But...it wasnt a WLH it was a Purple Hairstreak instead I thought i had seen a Purple Hairstreak a couple of days ago, but i wasnt a 100% sure.

I have seen PH in the garden before, but its a rare sight...I would say less than 6 sightings in the last decade. WLH are more common than the PH.


A rough "grab shot" photo of the PH (just before the little swine flew off!). Image is not cropped. Cheers Paul.