The Black Hairstreak, probably one of Britain's rarest butterflies has always been a butterfly that John has wanted to see. So when he received a message from Adam Hartley saying that they had been seen at Bernwood Forest we decided to take a day trip to Oxford to see them!
We met Adam at Bernwood Forest and he guided us through the wood to the area where they had been seen known as the M40 Compensation Area. It was not long before we spotted our first Black Hairstreak flying amongst the trees.
Walking around the site we and the other butterfly spotters soon started to see more hairstreaks. One of the best areas where we saw several sitting on the trees was right next to the M40 motorway. Here we were watching these beautiful little butterflies and just feet away the traffic sped past. Peace and tranquility is obviously not high on a hairstreaks list of home requirements!
It was difficult to count how many individuals we saw during our visit but reports from other visitors noting their sightings on the local butterfly website reported at least 20.
The photographs below are all of Male Black Hairstreaks. In the last picture the butterfly is nectaring on honeydew on the leaves.
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| A male Black Hairstreak hiding in the leaves! |
And finally we must say thank you to Adam for taking the time to show John and I these lovely butterflies.
Hi Kate, great write-up of what was a great day! By the way, I've taken the liberty of using one of your photos on my blog (credited to you of course) for my write-up. I hope that this is ok but if it isn't then let me know (via John is probably easiest) and I'll remove it at once.
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