This year’s crop of the rather rare Black Hairstreak began emerging at Brampton Wood on 29th May. I didn’t get a chance to visit the site until the 5th June. Intermittent sun meant they butterflies would appear, flit about a bit, and then disappear when the clouds moved across the sun again. There are lots on this site and several other woodlands that dot the landscape between Huntingdonshire and Oxfordshire.
The species is on the wing for a couple of weeks at this time of year mating in and around the old Blackthorn bushes in these woodlands, with that plant being the larval food plant. Unfortunately, unlike some other species, the Black Hairstreak is not a colonialist and it is common that the adults will fly no more than a few metres from the site where they first emerged from their pupae.
A couple of years ago, the transect count for the site was 2000 or so Black Hairstreak. Given the expanse of this woodland, it’s possible that that there were tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of adult butterflies on the site that summer. It’s nationally rare, and like I say, there are very few places where you will see them, but if you know the right spot…
Incidentally, had a chat with Alice from GreenWings and Steve from Butterfly Conservation. He pointed out a Lackey Moth larva on a tree as we walked from the first BH site to the second site.
