Thursday, 2 August 2018

Another New Butterfly Species

I made my final visit of the year to a reserve near Market Rasen today. All the large butterflies had gone from the woodland, but in the butterfly garden once the sun came out there were lots to see. In the final 10 minutes after 3 hours on site we noticed a butterfly on the ground near the car park. It was not too far from where we saw the White-Letter Hairstreak a fortnight ago, but this time it was another new species for me - a Brown Hairstreak. The name doesn't do it justice. It's underside is a lovely orange, although admittedly the male is pretty much brown above. Next year I need to revisit to try and see the Marsh Fritillaries, plus the Black Hairstreaks. It would also be great to see Silver-washed Fritillaries in great condition, plus White Admirals and Purple Emperors in their pristine finery. A female Brown Hairstreak would be good too, which are much brighter than the males.
Male Brown Hairstreak
 Ditto
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 caterpillar
 Female Common Blue
 Ditto
 Gatekeeper
Purple Hairstreak
 Ditto
 Ditto
Little Owl yesterday at Hutton Cranswick
 Painted Lady at Kilnsea Wetlands
 Ditto

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