Tiny thrill

I spent a very wet morning with a jolly group of butterfly enthusiasts at one of our Wildlife Trust nature reserves, Calvert Jubilee, which is threatened by the plans for the HS2 railway. We were searching branches of blackthorn for the very tiny eggs of one our most elusive UK butterfly species, the Brown Hairstreak. Finding any would mean that all five species of hairstreaks would have been recorded from this special site and this would add to the case against losing a slice of the site to enable that stupid train to run at 250 mph in an absolutely straight line.

After 2 hours of searching, 2 eggs were found - not by me, sadly, but I was still terribly excited. This was the best shot I could get, with my hand-held compact camera in pouring rain and some wind. The eggs are only about 1 mm across, but are a striking white against the dark brown bark of Blackthorn twigs. They are normally laid singly at a fork in a twig that is on one- or two-year old growth in a sheltered area exposed to the sun. I must go back on a better day with a tripod to capture the lovely patterned sphere that looks like a miniature sea urchin. A fantastic morning, but pleased to be in the dry again.