Butterflies Galore

[Naturenutz]

Well today i went out with the intent of finding some silver washed fritillaries.after some research on the net i found a place that was given 5 stars as a silver washed site called lower wood and as it was not to far from me ,that was a bonus .What a day i picked.The butterflies were everywhere and very happy to be photographed for a change.Also some day flying moths.Here is the day out in photographs.There are 2 i cant ud,the hairstreak and the moth (not the scarlet tiger ).

[Susie]

Is there elm near the site you visited? Your hairstreak looks like a white letter hairstreak to me.

[Naturenutz]

The Hairstreak was near a very large oak susie,although there were mixed trees in the wood nearby.I have not seen white letter hairstreak for many years and although this looked simiar it was smaller than i remember them.This one was the same size asa green hairstreak or very close to that size.I was photographing the silver washed frits when i noticed it on a thistle head.Because it was near an oak i was wondering if it could be purple hairstreak.

[Susie]

Well in that case I reckon it's suffering from an identify crisis and has had a large white "W" tattooed on it's tail

That's not like any purple hairstreak I've ever seen, but I will wait for an expert to come along and correct me. I can understand why seeing it by oak would be confusing though, especially if you haven't seen one for a while.

[Susie]

For comparison, this is a purple hairstreak which I photographed a couple of years back. Note no white "W" on the tail and the orange dots. Yours has far more orange.

Congratulations, that's a smashing find!

[Naturenutz]

It was just the size that had confused me susie and the fact that uk butterflies web site states purple hairsreak are present at lower woods but does not mention white letter.My memory must be getting bad,i thought they were alot bigger .The uk butterflies sight mentions 25mm -35 mm,think i saw the 25mm today and 35mm years ago.Maybe they have shrunk like the elm trees -.The butterfly had the tip missing from one of its antennae but it did not seem to be hindering it as it was slowly moving over the thistle heads

[aeshna5]

As Susie says it's definitely a White-letter Hairstreak- much overlooked + under-recorded.

[MetalMoth]

I would also agree that it looks much more like White-letter hairstreak than Purple.

Nice photos. I am impressed that you got one of a White Admiral. My friend and I tried to get pics of them but they refused to settle!

[Susie]

I'm surprised no one has had a go at IDing your moth. It reminds me of a burnished brass, but I have never seen one hold its wings at that angle. I'd be interested to know what it is.

[earthdragon64]

I think that the moth is a Burnished Brass, lovely shots.