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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Hot hairstreaks drop to earth for a lime lolly | Hot hairstreaks drop to earth for a lime lolly |
| (7 months later) | |
| Chicksands Wood, Bedfordshire The butterflies were scuttling quickly on crooked legs, like crabs, between lime fixes | |
| Derek Niemann | |
| Thu 13 Jul 2017 05.30 BST | |
| Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 17.06 GMT | |
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| These are the dog days of the birdwatcher’s year, the muted lull when most things of interest melt into the undergrowth to moult. Avid birders look for substitutes with wings, and often turn to butterflies. Woods such as Chicksands offer an opportunity to see one of the rarest – given binoculars, sun, stillness, a cricked neck and an ocean of luck. | These are the dog days of the birdwatcher’s year, the muted lull when most things of interest melt into the undergrowth to moult. Avid birders look for substitutes with wings, and often turn to butterflies. Woods such as Chicksands offer an opportunity to see one of the rarest – given binoculars, sun, stillness, a cricked neck and an ocean of luck. |
| Even before Dutch elm disease brought a collapse in its population, the white-letter hairstreak would not have been an easy spot. | Even before Dutch elm disease brought a collapse in its population, the white-letter hairstreak would not have been an easy spot. |
| In the popular pioneering field guide of Edwardian times, The Butterflies of the British Isles, Richard South declares that Satyrium w-album “usually disports itself around the elm trees, but is fond of bramble blossoms, and may often be netted when feasting on these flowers”. | In the popular pioneering field guide of Edwardian times, The Butterflies of the British Isles, Richard South declares that Satyrium w-album “usually disports itself around the elm trees, but is fond of bramble blossoms, and may often be netted when feasting on these flowers”. |
| Netted and killed, of course; those were different times. In butterfly heaven, the white-letter hairstreak sips honeydew from the leaves high in the sun-kissed canopy, so here on earth, for the most part, binoculars are essential to capture a darting dot. And there is only really a six-week period when it is on the wing. | Netted and killed, of course; those were different times. In butterfly heaven, the white-letter hairstreak sips honeydew from the leaves high in the sun-kissed canopy, so here on earth, for the most part, binoculars are essential to capture a darting dot. And there is only really a six-week period when it is on the wing. |
| Conditions here had changed materially since my last visit. The Forestry Commission had laid lime-rich hard standing down the centre of the main ride, presumably in preparation for conifer felling later in the year. The raw substrate was providing the equivalent of a sheep’s salt lick and so, on a stiflingly hot day, butterflies were descending from on high for a mineral lolly. | Conditions here had changed materially since my last visit. The Forestry Commission had laid lime-rich hard standing down the centre of the main ride, presumably in preparation for conifer felling later in the year. The raw substrate was providing the equivalent of a sheep’s salt lick and so, on a stiflingly hot day, butterflies were descending from on high for a mineral lolly. |
| I had never seen these butterflies up close before. Even smaller than I had imagined, they held their folded wings unusually high so that they appeared like tiny sharks’ fins protruding from a sea of rubble. They were extraordinarily mobile too, in a stop-start way, scuttling quickly on crooked legs, like crabs, between lime fixes. | I had never seen these butterflies up close before. Even smaller than I had imagined, they held their folded wings unusually high so that they appeared like tiny sharks’ fins protruding from a sea of rubble. They were extraordinarily mobile too, in a stop-start way, scuttling quickly on crooked legs, like crabs, between lime fixes. |
| The thin, pure-white, line after which they were named, traced out on indeterminate grey-brown wings, was vivid. A yet more stunning detail was an exquisite, luminous, orange frill close to the wing edges. | The thin, pure-white, line after which they were named, traced out on indeterminate grey-brown wings, was vivid. A yet more stunning detail was an exquisite, luminous, orange frill close to the wing edges. |
| In all this subtle beauty it felt, at that moment, as if heaven had come down to earth. | In all this subtle beauty it felt, at that moment, as if heaven had come down to earth. |
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