In Search of Thecla betulae, the Brown Hairstreak.
Aug 7, 2016 9:27:41 GMT
deliasfanatic, mygos, and 5 more like this
Post by nomad on Aug 7, 2016 9:27:41 GMT
In Search of Thecla betulae, the Brown Hairstreak.
Most of those that have field experience of Thecla betulae will know that it is usually an arboreal species except when the adults come down to visit flowers or when the females are egg-laying. If your quest is to photograph this species, you will certainly need plenty of patience. The old collectors knew that it was hardly worth seeking the adult butterflies because pristine specimens were not to had with the net and you had to beat the blackthorn bushes for the larvae in May and June. My first experience of the butterfly was many years ago. Then in the lane near Hell's Coppice in Oxfordshire, I saw females flying strongly along the tops of the hedges. To see this butterfly today, I head for Salisbury Plain to explore a net work of old blackthorn hedges. Here there is an Ash "master tree" where on emerging, both sexes of Thecla betulae make for and here in the canopy they mate. The females stay up in the canopy for a week to ten days, then they venture down to lay their eggs along the blackthorn hedges. This is a butterfly of late summer, the first males appearing in late July or the beginning of August with the females flying into September. In the following article are several tales of my visits to Salisbury Plain in search of Thecla betulae with a selection of images taken between 2012 & 2016.
August 5 2016. Brown Hairstreak males and the man in the blue car.
The main Thecla betulae locality on Salisbury Plain can be a lazy man's site, because you can park your car in the middle of it and at weekends the butterfly people do and seem to be content to explore one County boundary hedge. I prefer to travel in by foot from the garrison town of Tidworth by way of the old sheep droves of the plain that is also good Thecla betulae territory. Today I arrive early and the sun is up but darker clouds soon move in but at least its muggy and warm. Thecla betulae are only active in warm weather, on cool days they will stay up resting in the canopy. I walked downhill along a track by a narrow and long beech plantation and noticed that a small blue car was set right back among the trees and in the vehicle, a man sat motionless staring straight ahead. A fox hurries on his way, it was still only 7.30am and further down I explored the scrubby blackthorn areas and hedges for several hours but saw no Thecla betulae but I was kept entertained by many other insects. It was now midday and I decided to head back uphill into Wiltshire and find that strangely the blue car is still there and the man is still sitting in it. Is he hiding or living there or just enjoying a restful day. He is certainly alive because he is now looking at his phone and he was not a clandestine security person because when I wandered over to look at some Ant hills by the firing range red flag, that signaled that there was danger beyond, he did not move an inch. It was certainly not peaceful in this area of the plain, because just beyond the red flags there was the constant sound of rifle fire and the rattle and wine of sub-machine guns of the military firing range hidden by a line of firs.
The old boundary hedge, Salisbury Plain.
I reached the old sheep drove where I have seen Brown Hairstreaks before, but their were none. At this end of the track I squeezed through some beech trees into a scrubby clearing and there sitting on a thistle is a male Thecla betulae. He looked like he emerged yesterday and got caught in the rain showers, he is their only seconds, then he is off and disappears over the bramble thicket.
I head back down the hill into Hampshire and see several more males of Thecla betulae but no females, I guess they are still up in the master tree. In the small area which I call the triangle, because it is bounded on three sides by tracks , I find that this year it is much overgrown. On one of the few thistles poking out of the nettles and bramble a male Thecla betulae is feeding on one of the flowers that has not yet gone to seed, then resting afterwards on the latter. He is pristine having certainly emerged today. I move in to get some shots but instead I get stung by the nettles and torn by thorns, I disturb him and frustrating he flies out of reach to the top of a dense above head height bramble bush and basks with his chocolate wings wide open, a rare sight. The male and indeed the females of Thecla betulae ignore the deep purple thistles but will visit the blue one Cirsium arvense, which many other butterflies, bees and many other insects love to visit for its sweet nectar, so if you want to find them at thistles you will have to check out this one in a known locality. Both sexes are also attracted to bramble, rubus flowers. Males of Thecla betulae are rarely seen in most of its British localities, they just do not leave the tree tops and Salisbury Plain is one of the few areas where they do. There were many other butterflies visiting the brambles including the lovely Vanessa atalanta, Inachis io (I see they have changed the genus name to Aglais) and Polygonia c-album. I head back to my bus at Tidworth, the man and the blue car is still there, and its now the latter part of the afternoon.
The old drove near Tidworth, Wilts.
The Master tree in the left hand background of this image where both sexes of Thecla betulae congregate to mate.
The two males of Thecla betulae.
Vanessa atalanta.
Inachis io.
Polygonia c-album.
Most of those that have field experience of Thecla betulae will know that it is usually an arboreal species except when the adults come down to visit flowers or when the females are egg-laying. If your quest is to photograph this species, you will certainly need plenty of patience. The old collectors knew that it was hardly worth seeking the adult butterflies because pristine specimens were not to had with the net and you had to beat the blackthorn bushes for the larvae in May and June. My first experience of the butterfly was many years ago. Then in the lane near Hell's Coppice in Oxfordshire, I saw females flying strongly along the tops of the hedges. To see this butterfly today, I head for Salisbury Plain to explore a net work of old blackthorn hedges. Here there is an Ash "master tree" where on emerging, both sexes of Thecla betulae make for and here in the canopy they mate. The females stay up in the canopy for a week to ten days, then they venture down to lay their eggs along the blackthorn hedges. This is a butterfly of late summer, the first males appearing in late July or the beginning of August with the females flying into September. In the following article are several tales of my visits to Salisbury Plain in search of Thecla betulae with a selection of images taken between 2012 & 2016.
August 5 2016. Brown Hairstreak males and the man in the blue car.
The main Thecla betulae locality on Salisbury Plain can be a lazy man's site, because you can park your car in the middle of it and at weekends the butterfly people do and seem to be content to explore one County boundary hedge. I prefer to travel in by foot from the garrison town of Tidworth by way of the old sheep droves of the plain that is also good Thecla betulae territory. Today I arrive early and the sun is up but darker clouds soon move in but at least its muggy and warm. Thecla betulae are only active in warm weather, on cool days they will stay up resting in the canopy. I walked downhill along a track by a narrow and long beech plantation and noticed that a small blue car was set right back among the trees and in the vehicle, a man sat motionless staring straight ahead. A fox hurries on his way, it was still only 7.30am and further down I explored the scrubby blackthorn areas and hedges for several hours but saw no Thecla betulae but I was kept entertained by many other insects. It was now midday and I decided to head back uphill into Wiltshire and find that strangely the blue car is still there and the man is still sitting in it. Is he hiding or living there or just enjoying a restful day. He is certainly alive because he is now looking at his phone and he was not a clandestine security person because when I wandered over to look at some Ant hills by the firing range red flag, that signaled that there was danger beyond, he did not move an inch. It was certainly not peaceful in this area of the plain, because just beyond the red flags there was the constant sound of rifle fire and the rattle and wine of sub-machine guns of the military firing range hidden by a line of firs.
The old boundary hedge, Salisbury Plain.
I reached the old sheep drove where I have seen Brown Hairstreaks before, but their were none. At this end of the track I squeezed through some beech trees into a scrubby clearing and there sitting on a thistle is a male Thecla betulae. He looked like he emerged yesterday and got caught in the rain showers, he is their only seconds, then he is off and disappears over the bramble thicket.
I head back down the hill into Hampshire and see several more males of Thecla betulae but no females, I guess they are still up in the master tree. In the small area which I call the triangle, because it is bounded on three sides by tracks , I find that this year it is much overgrown. On one of the few thistles poking out of the nettles and bramble a male Thecla betulae is feeding on one of the flowers that has not yet gone to seed, then resting afterwards on the latter. He is pristine having certainly emerged today. I move in to get some shots but instead I get stung by the nettles and torn by thorns, I disturb him and frustrating he flies out of reach to the top of a dense above head height bramble bush and basks with his chocolate wings wide open, a rare sight. The male and indeed the females of Thecla betulae ignore the deep purple thistles but will visit the blue one Cirsium arvense, which many other butterflies, bees and many other insects love to visit for its sweet nectar, so if you want to find them at thistles you will have to check out this one in a known locality. Both sexes are also attracted to bramble, rubus flowers. Males of Thecla betulae are rarely seen in most of its British localities, they just do not leave the tree tops and Salisbury Plain is one of the few areas where they do. There were many other butterflies visiting the brambles including the lovely Vanessa atalanta, Inachis io (I see they have changed the genus name to Aglais) and Polygonia c-album. I head back to my bus at Tidworth, the man and the blue car is still there, and its now the latter part of the afternoon.
The old drove near Tidworth, Wilts.
The Master tree in the left hand background of this image where both sexes of Thecla betulae congregate to mate.
The two males of Thecla betulae.
Vanessa atalanta.
Inachis io.
Polygonia c-album.