Hairstreak

It was with little optimism that a small group assembled this afternoon for a walk in search of Baildon Moor's Green Hairstreak butterflies. Although I'd seen a couple on the May Day bank holiday the weather has been cool since then, and this morning we had heavy rain.

The walk was organised by Bradford Urban Wildlife Group as part of Butterfly Conservation's Save Our Butterflies Week.  There are lots of walks and events organised around the country, of which you'll find details here.

We focused our search on the old coal pits which provide shelter for the butterflies, and in our second pit found the first sleepy butterfly. This image is of the second, and I thought I'd include my fingernail just to emphasise how small these creatures are. We found a third, which exceeded expectations on a cool damp day.

For an alternative write-up and images from the walk, see the Friends of Baildon Moor site.