The Brown Hairstreak

Ending a great week for butterfly sightings with my all time favourite butterfly - the highly elusive Brown Hairstreak. I went over to Steyning in West Sussex which is reckoned to be one of the best sites in Britain for this butterfly. I arrived just after ten. A few hairstreaks were spotted about an hour later flitting around the tops of ash trees but it wasn't until another two hours before this solitary female came down from the treetops to lay eggs on the young blackthorn and bullace bushes. Patience seems to be the key to finding this species. This brings my total  species for the year to 38 and, with the exception of the brown hairstreak, I've seen them all within ten miles of home. I think that's it for this year unless I see one of the exotic migrants that might float across in the next few days.