White Letter Hairstreak

White Letter Hairstreak-01

Another of our tree-top loving Hairstreaks, the White Letter is dependent on Elm, the numbers of which have declined drastically thanks to Dutch Elm Disease. This butterfly has adapted to the changed fortunes, and can be found using suckers and regenerating growth. Often overlooked, you can often find this butterfly nectaring on brambles adjacent to elm in the mornings in July. This one was photographed at Bentley Wood on the Hampshire / Wiltshire border in 2006. I recently found and photographed one at Grafton Wood in Worcestershire, where the Warden tells me they had not been seen for 30 years or so, and I finally found them on my "home patch" in the Forest of Dean.   

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