A couple of Hairstreaks

Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

White Letter Hairstreak

White Letter Hairstreak

White Letter Hairstreak

Butterflies

There was a strange yellow thing in the sky on Sunday and so, armed with my new camera I set out for a local wood called Bedford Purlieus to see if I could photograph some butterflies.

This wood is known for a few species, the White-letter Hairstreak, the Purple Hairstreak, the Silver-washed Fritillary and the White Admiral. Only two of these species were seen, the Silver-washed Fritillary and the Purple Hairstreak, the other two were absent, either not yet emerged or missed during the visit. There were good numbers of Silver-washed Fritillaries present, I counted at least 12 of these lovely butterflies, the largest of our fritillaries, but there were just 2 Purple Hairstreaks present, with myself seeing the one and that was thanks to a lady who kindly showed me where she had seen it cowering in the long grass. There were good numbers of Ringlets and Meadow Browns present and I saw at least 4 Commas, but the White-letters and the White Admirals were notable by their absence.

 Thi Purple Hairstreak was very tolerant, crawling on to my finger and just sitting there while I took this shot!

My new camera is a Canon Powershot SX40 HS, what is known as a `bridge` camera, halfway between a `point and shoot` and a DSLR. I have bought it really to use in photographing insects as I was sick of the creature flying away when approached with my little A640. I have yet to master the settings etc as I have only had it a week, but will hopefully mange a few more half-decent images in the future ( any pointers form those more experienced photographers out there would be gratefully received! ).

Bedford Purlieus butterflies

White-letter Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album)

White Admiral (Limenitis camilla)

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)

Large Skipper (Ochlodes venata)

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia)

Purple Hairstreak (Neozephyrus quercus)

Last weekend the weather was perfect for butterflies and so Lisa and I spent Saturday searching the woods at Bedford Purlieus and the chalk fields of Barnack Hills and Holes. Above are photographs of some of the species seen at Bedford Purlieus, I will put the ones of Hills and Holes on another as there are quite a few!

The stars of the show at the woods were the Silver-washed Fritillaries, we counted at least 35 individuals, with at least 10 Purple Hairstreaks, 3 White-letter Hairstreaks, 2 White Admirals, plus numerous Meadow Browns, Large and Small Whites, Green-veined Whites, Large Skippers, Speckled Woods, a few Red Admirals and Commas and the most numerous species was the Ringlet.

The sun was shining and the Silver-washed Fritillaries were very busy flying up and down the rides, very briefly stopping on a bramble or wild Thyme, but never long enough to get a decent photo (I managed one, but at distance). Also, the Purple Hairstreaks were very high up in the canopy of 200 feet oak trees, the only photo was taken by Digiscoping and the result is not very pleasing, but the butterfly is identifiable.

All photographs, except the Purple Hairstreak were taken with my hand-held Canon Powershot A640.