www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Purple Hairstreak - Favourite Photo of 2024

Week 13

So we have reached 12th night…I would have realised that it was due anyway as on Friday I saw my first Easter Egg displays in Exeter!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Although I saw over 150 Purple Hairstreak during 2024, unlike last year I did not get the opportunity to see any at close quarters until late in the season when this female turned up on a bramble that I was passing by at Danbury Common. She is a bit worse for wear but nonetheless I was very happy that she posed with her upperwings showing, and this was the first time I was to experience such an event, which made it all the more special. If only it had been earlier in the season when she was fresh - too much to ask for during 2025? :

Always a joy when you see this species settled at a low level.

In 2023, there were multi-dozens doing precisely that when I visited Fermyn Woods in Northants, but in 2024 I had to be content with just seeing them high up in the oak and ash canopies on the Gower.

My season for Purple Hairstreak in South Bedfordshire started early with three individuals seen at Linslade Woods, Leighton Buzzard on 16th June. Despite this early start, the number of sightings didn't really build, this resulting in a poor season locally for the PH. I was however lucky enough to spot a male Purple Hairstreak about a metre above head height, so I was just about able to stretch up high enough to take a few shots with my mobile phone. I was even more lucky to be in the right place at the right time, when a flock of long-tailed tits flushed a female PH from an oak tree. She came spiralling down like a leaf into the grass just a few metres away. This was a very fresh female, and appeared to still be unfirling? After 6 minutes she briefly opened her wings before flying back into the relative safety of the oak tree (until the next flock of tits pass by).

David T wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 8:27 pm This was a very fresh female, and appeared to still be unfirling? After 6 minutes she briefly opened her wings before flying back into the relative safety of the oak tree (until the next flock of tits pass by).

Very interesting behavioural observations David. If she was still drying her wings, that would indicate that she pupated in the tree rather than at ground level. Some do have slightly crinkled wings after drying though. Were you able to observe if her wings had straightened out before she flew up again?

Only managed one image of this species in 2024, and that was at such distance that I had to superimpose an arrow to show where the butterfly actually was:

I usually rear some from rescued windfall eggs. There are a few pictures of this year's. Obviously this is cheating from a photographic point of view so apologies for that! I often try to make it clear in the photo that these are not in a natural situation, to avoid confusion with natural behaviour, or failing that, declare it in comments.

Great Holland Pits as so many know, is a great place to see many different species of Butterfly and this year seamed to be a good year for the Purple Hairstreak here. They were easily to spot, mainly up high, over the whole site.

This was taken at Great Holland Pits on the 7th July just after midday at 12:10 on a hot sunny day.

ChrisStamp wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 10:04 am

David T wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 8:27 pm This was a very fresh female, and appeared to still be unfirling? After 6 minutes she briefly opened her wings before flying back into the relative safety of the oak tree (until the next flock of tits pass by).

Very interesting behavioural observations David. If she was still drying her wings, that would indicate that she pupated in the tree rather than at ground level. Some do have slightly crinkled wings after drying though. Were you able to observe if her wings had straightened out before she flew up again?

Thanks Chris
The wings or ar least the right wing was still crinkled when she flew back up into the oak. She was a fresh looking female so it is difficult to say if the wing had not finished straightening out or if this how it had now actually formed. I am aware the PH will pupate in the soil or in a crevice of a tree. What I have heard from more recent studies is that both larvae and pupae produce secretions which attract ants, and it seems that during the pupal stage this butterfly is more dependant upon ants than was previously realised.

David T wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 8:27 pm it seems that during the pupal stage this butterfly is more dependant upon ants than was previously realised.

I can confirm that both larvae and pupae attract plenty of ant attention in my greenhouse David. The pupae normally end up under plant pots containing oak saplings, and I'm keen to find out of if the ants play a role in how they get there.

One of the few winners of 2024, plenty were seen at both Epping Forest and Bookham Commons

Although this individual was rather shy and did a good job of hiding, it cast a very distinctive shadow.

found this species in its usual haunts on my local patch on a couple of rare calm and sunny July evenings, but also as usual, they stayed up in the trees. I saw a few down at Bookham too, though a lack of glorious sunny mornings (when they tend to come down to nectar and drink dew) meant photos were few and far between. On one such day, when meeting up with Bugboy, we found new individual down on the track. I was so used to seeing male Holly Blues in this pose that I immediately decided that this was also a male butterfly, but scrutiny of the photos later revealed it to be female. Dave