Some great butterflies on the Northamptonshire Tour at the weekend. The Black Hairstreaks, which always remind me of ‘Where’s Wally’ with their stripy legs and antennae, performed wonderfully; there were a lot of them too. Wood Whites were a little more elusive and it took us some time to find them; perhaps symptomatic of their rapidly declining status. Eventually we came across a little glade where they were flying around in the heat of the afternoon.
The search for Wood Whites and Black Hairstreaks took us into Northamptonshire on tour this weekend. As well as the target species there was the odd surprise too!
On the Wood White and Black Hairstreak day a couple of weeks ago we managed one or two of each. However it was the appearance of a Purple Emperor at a site in Northamptonshire – a first for the wood we visited – that was a total surprise. Next years tour is open for bookings – https://www.wildlifetoursandeducation.co.uk/tours/special-day-tours/
A trip into Northamptonshire last month spawned a day trip for next year (see this link) in search of Wood Whites and Black Hairstreaks. Wood Whites are like floating pieces of tissue paper whereas Black Hairstreaks, one of the UK’s scarcer species, are tree top dwellers but it’s possible to find a few at ground level … as per the photos. Let me know if you’d like to make a booking.
Letter From Norfolk 