Purple Hairstreaks and Sycamore

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Naturenutz

I wonder if white letter hairstreaks have another host tree other than elm.
the one i saw a week or so back was on thistles but i went back a few days ago and no elms were visable in the surroundings of the meadow and i walked quite a distance.I have not seen purple hairstreak yet this year , i am jealous

Not any that is known. As they will use elm suckers maybe there are some you don't know about in the vicinity.

Also some butterflies do wander, so maybe this was one of those.

[Susie]

The trouble with elm is that it only gets to about 20 feet high before the disease kills it off so if it is growing in a tall hedge or amongst other trees it wouldn't necessarily easily be noticed.

[Harry Eales]

Tapping the branches of Oak with a long (sectionable) pond net handle will put any Hairstreaks present to flight. The Purple Hairstreak is always very reluctant to fly, preferring to walk from branch to branch.

Jointed sections of wood or aluminium tube are light to carry. Assembled they should be 9 to 12 feet long.

I found a very large colony in a local Oak Wood several years ago using this method, and surprisingly the butterflies were nearly all on the smallest Oak tree in the wood.

What really surprised me were the large numbers of this species that were put to flight. Usually you only see this species singly, and if your lucky, as they're very secretive.

Harry

[Deb London]

What an interesting idea, Harry. The length is presumably so you can reach higher branches?

[Jason Claxton]

It is a very good year for Purple Hairstreak around me,I wonder whether it the same throughout their range,has anyone else seen more?
I have seen many quickly and easily this year and often I have just stumbled upon them in many different sites.
I was watching an Oak tree a few days back ,which had 30 plus PH fluttering around the leaves all at once down to a height of about 8ft without any form of disturbance to put them up,I wonder how many there were actually in that tree.Luckily for me they have been far from elusive this year.

Cheers, Jason

[Harry Eales]

Originally Posted by Deb London

What an interesting idea, Harry. The length is presumably so you can reach higher branches?

That's correct Debs, I got mine from Watkins and Doncaster in Kent. They were aluminium alloy extensions for their pond net. Many Oaks have the lower branches a good height off the ground but if I have a 12 foot long pole add, that to that my height + the length of my arm 6' + 2' that gets the pole end 20 feet up off the ground.

There is no limit in how many pieces you can clip together, but the longer the pole the more unwieldy it becomes. One sharp tap is all that is needed to put the butterflies up.

Back in the late 1800's and into the 1920's collectors of Purple Emperor butterflies used poles up to 80 feet in length with a net on the top. Some of these high poles had 'crosstrees' half way up with thin rope rigging to try and cut down on the amount of flex that took place. Rather them than me.

Harry

[Deb London]

I too would be interested to know if there are more this year, Jason.

Cheers for that Harry - you are a veritable mine of information. Very interesting stuff. Glad butterfly collection is a thing of the past.