Today I joined the ‘End of Season Steyning Downland Scheme Brown Hairstreak
Social Group’ at the Rifle Range, where annual gatherings celebrate the passing
of another season and members hope to photograph one of our most beautiful and
charismatic butterflies.
Brown Hairstreak watching here is very much a social
event and the more eyes the better! Although it sometimes gets so busy that you
will find yourself shoulder-to-shoulder with other participants, business
is almost always conducted in a polite and cooperative manner, with most members
returning home with close-up views and hopefully some good photographs.
Today
was no exception and the butterflies performed well, both for Team A on the
northern flank, captained by Colin Knight, and for Team B in the reserve area,
captained by Trevor Rapley. Together a total of 12 female Brown Hairstreaks were
seen. I spent most of the 11.30 am – 2.00 pm period of activity on the northern
flank, where we had at least one specimen in view almost constantly throughout
the day. We are now at peak season, so a visit this weekend in warm sunny
weather should give every chance of some red hot hairstreaking.
I also spent a few hours here yesterday, but the weather was only sufficiently good to tempt a single female down. However, it was a case of quality over quantity and this near perfect specimen posed with open wings for more than twenty minutes.
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