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23C Thursday 8th August 2019 ~ With the weather set to deteriorate over the coming days a morning at RSPB Otmoor in Oxfordshire on Thursday to enjoy what's left of this weeks sunshine.
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| Brown Hairstreak from today's visit |
This is an annual visit in search of the elusive
Brown Hairstreak Butterfly. Out of all the Hairstreaks I chase down each year, this to me is always the one I have to work harder for to obtain any half-decent photos, I normally just end up with some good record shots. They spend most of their lives basking in the treetops feeding on aphid honeydew. The larval foodplant is Blackthorn but I tend to have the best results searching large Ash trees. These are known as the 'Master Tree' were the males will congregate to await the females.
At Otmoor the best place (
see above) seems to be along the 'Roman Road' an area to the rear of the main car park. PDF Site Map
HERE
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| A few more images of Brown Hairstreak from today's visit |
Once again it was particularly hard work but patience paid off with perhaps 5/6 seen which included both sexes. From a birding perspective, there was no sign of any
Turtle Doves today, a regular here but a nice
Common Redstart by the bridleway gate near the MOD land was a bonus.
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| Nice image of today's Redstart by @fishburglar Andy who was faster on the trigger than me today! |
