White-letter Hairstreak

Sunny spells, 19°, breezy WSW.

After a phone call from Tony Rayner this afternoon I was invited to see a White-letter Hairstreak. Actually at least 2 of them are present in his garden.

Spent a couple of hours there but unfortunately not to be seen.

This is the first confirmed record for this species since 1999, so a 21 year wait.

The garden was full of butterflies and a pleasure to see:

A couple of bird species of note were: Bullfinch and Kestrel.

Dragonflies: Azure Damselfly & Brown Hawker. Alan: Beautiful Demoiselle, Southern Hawker and Brown Hawker.

Butterflies: Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Brimstone, Large White, Small White, White-letter Hairstreak, Brown Argus, Holly Blue, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Marbled White, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Ringlet. (All in Tony’s garden).

Plants: Bee Orchid and Pyramid Orchid. Lots of Marjoram in the garden that is attracting a large number of insects and all made its way there naturally.

 White-letter Hairstreak (courtesy Tony Rayner) ↕

 Brimstone
 Brown Argus
 Meadow Brown
 Marbled White
 Gatekeeper
 Common Blue
Ringlet ↕

 Marjoram
Pyramid Orchid


from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2020/07/white-letter-hairstreak.html

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