Pete's Walks - White-letter Hairstreak

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Photo taken 9/7/2022 at Bedford Purlieus, Cambridgeshire. This shot shows the white W mark very clearly.

This is a relatively uncommon butterfly, which takes its name from the white W mark on its wings. Like most hairstreaks it is difficult to spot as it spends much of its time up in trees, especially Elm, only occasionally coming down to gather nectar (often from privet or bramble, though my photos show it on Marjoram).

I saw my first White-letter Hairstreaks in July 2022, when I visited Bedford Purlieus (part of Rockingham Forest) with my friends Jon and Kirsty Philpot. I had met them a year earlier when we got chatting at Bucknell Wood, and we've kept in touch on Facebook since then. They have kindly given me information and maps to help me find butterflies, for which I'm very grateful. It was lovely to meet up with them again, and I'm sure we'll look for butterflies together again in the future.

Photo taken 9/7/2022 at Bedford Purlieus, Cambridgeshire