A Brown Letter Day!

Having never seen Brown Hairstreak before, and being inspired by reading the Ash Brownies Blog all summer, I (Paul Brewster) and my wife Carys decided that when news of emergence came through we would attempt to catch up with this enigmatic species. Once Gill had posted that emergence was underway at Grafton Wood, Worcestershire, we started to plan, but just at that time the good weather and our days off started to go out of sync. I emailed Gill whose response was fantastic, providing me with lots...

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Only here for the beer

August Bank Holiday Monday saw the local Worcs Streakers manning an information stall at the Pershore Plum Fayre.  This was our second visit to this event which celebrates Pershore and the surrounding area's historical and cultural links with all things plummy.  We reckon the Brown Hairstreak qualifies because of its associations with various members of the Plum family and, in any event, it is a great opportunity to raise awareness of one of our plummiest butterflies with the wider...

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Hairstreak Peak

The Brown Hairstreak now appears to be at peak in Sussex, based on results at the well-watched Steyning Rifle Range site. Large numbers of hairstreak fans continue to visit and yesterday (28th August) saw about half a dozen females at work in the blackthorn, with nearly as many staying up high. Some of the females are still in surprisingly good condition. The butterfly was very obliging (unlike the previous day), so everyone went away with some pleasing images. Sometimes it's nice to find peace...

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Grafton Wood Brown Hairstreak Open Day

Sunday 25th August saw the most anticipated, exciting day of the year for Grafton Wood  - the annual Brown Hairstreak Open Day! As I looked out of my window first thing on Sunday morning, I groaned....breezy and heavily overcast. However, the forecast promised better weather for the afternoon so my spirits were reasonably high as I drove over to Worcestershire. And when I arrived at Grafton church hall car park, 45 minutes before the scheduled start, there was already a reasonable (and expectant)...

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More To Come

Steyning Rifle Range continues to draw more Hairstreak-hunters than Hairstreaks at the moment, with the now standard 'half dozen' females being recorded yesterday (23rd August). The better news is that there are still mint condition specimens to be found, although many of those which have been out egg laying are already accumulating nicks and scratches. A pristine female hung from a bunch of ash keys in the largest Master Tree, just above head height, refusing to drop any lower until her eggs...

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Recent Worcestershire Highlights

There has been a wealth (and diversity) of Brown Hairstreak sightings in Worcestershire over the last 2 weeks, in what seems to be an exceptional year for this butterfly. I've attempted to summarise and diary everything I know about - as follows: Sat 10th Aug - I saw 2 Bramble nectaring males and one freshly emerged female on the main hedgerow to the west of Grafton Wood. One of these males was extremely obliging and I managed to take 314 photos of it. This despite inadvertently knocking it off...

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Brown Hairstreak Open Day

Attention everyone! Drop whatever you're planning to do on Sunday 25th August and come along to the annual Brown Hairstreak Open Day at Grafton Wood, Worcestershire! I have now seen just shy of 40 adults over 4 days on my 2013 Brownie Pilgrimage to Grafton which, for anyone unfamiliar with the butterfly, is an absolutely mind-blowing figure! Never before have so many adults been seen and there have been some fantastic photo opportunities for everyone who has visited. The first egg-laying females were seen on Tuesday so there is a good chance of seeing them on Sunday also, plus the chance to see one of the beautiful pinhead-sized "sea urchin" eggs up close. If you own a hand lens with good magnification (10x or more advised), do bring it along and you wont be disappointed! We will...

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Slow Going In Sussex

Brown Hairstreak numbers have been a little disappointing at Steyning Rifle Range this season, although I'm convinced the best is still to come, just in time for my guided walk on Sunday 25th August (see http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/events.html). Only 5 were seen on Tuesday (20th August) and it took me until 2.45 pm yesterday to wring out 6 females, most of which had suffered significant damage despite their relative you...

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Doings in North Wilts

On Sun 18th I carried out my customary systematic search along some hedge lengths of the Wilts Wildlife Trust hay meadow reserve system near Minety, north west of Swindon.  I try to do this on a couple of early mornings in each flight season.  In effect it's a Brown Hairstreak transect, conducted in suitable weather as the butterfly is approaching peak season, with the males fully active.  Whether the data actually mean anything is, of course, another matter.  This Sunday the butterflies seemed to be in catch-up mode, after losing a day to poor weather on the Saturday.  Last year my highest tally was eight, achieved on two separate occasions.  Only the most favoured ash trees (which I call primary trees) were occupied then.  This Sunday my...

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Goings On In Upper Thames

Hi All Are many of you like me suffering a first sports injury? It's 'Arboreal butterfly neck' and indeed goes with the territory following an amazing Purple Emperor flight season surpassed by a sumglorious if late start, to the Brown hairstreak ash-party. My BrH recording had a wonderful kick-off on the 8th of August with my first sighting being a pair in cop high on a regularly visit ash assembly tree here in Bucks. A singleton male at site B was the prelude to a further pair in cop high on another annually visited assembly tree at site C, a 3 minute's drive away. B and C were just over the border in Oxfordshire. Many Ash Brownies may be familiar with the excellent piece of work carried out my Andrew Middleton, Liz Goodyear et al on 'Territorial Activity of Brown Hairstreak,...

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Unusual Sightings

These Brown Hairstreaks certainly get around. It is often said that looking for Brown Hairstreaks is like waiting for a bus with nothing much happening for several hours then two turning up at once. Redditch Council has now gone one step further by providing the Brown Hairstreak with its own bus shelter (photo courtesy of Wayne Beard, Redditch Borough Council). This rather fetching mural has been provided for the bus travellers of Winyates Green on the outskirts of Redditch and was produced...

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Emergence well underway at Grafton Wood

The last two days has seen a flurry of Brownie sightings at Grafton Wood in Worcestershire. These sightings are the first to be recorded since the initial one on Sunday 28th July. Yesterday yielded a minimum of 4 separate adults/sightings, at least 3 of which were male with the sex of the 4th undetermined. Today I had 8 separate sightings at different places spread across the 4 hours that I was there. All the butterflies I was able to observe closely were male. However, I bumped into John Tilt...

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Sussex Off The Mark

The Brown Hairstreak season is now underway in Sussex, with sightings of both male and female butterflies. Knepp Castle Estate produced the first, beating bookies' favourite Steyning Rifle Range to the off. The latter came back strongly, with good views of two fillies yesterday morning (4th August). One female was followed for more than 20 minutes, during which time there was no attempt at egging. I suspect she had just emerged. Even if she has already been mated, it might well be...

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Another Worcestershire Sighting

Following on from Sunday's report of an adult Brownie being seen at Grafton Wood, a second Worcs sighting was confirmed yesterday afternoon. This time it was in a village, a few miles to the north of Grafton Wood. It was confirmed as a male and it was seen in a known and long-standing assembly tree. As this tree resides in the garden of a very keen (and very lucky) Brownhairstreaker, it is the most closely monitored of all assembly trees in Worcs and almost every year, naturally enough, gives rise to the first confirmed Brownie sighting in the count...

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