16 July 2023 - Hollingworth Lake

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White-letter Hairstreak, Small Coppers, Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn beetle

Yesterday Andrew had remarkably found a White-letter Hairstreak by the road, feeding on Ragwort near the lake perimeter gate.  Not really expecting to see it myself, and with a few rain showers about, I didn't venture out, but later on it was seen again by Andrew so I jumped on my bike and headed that way, again not very expectant.

I saw the good numbers of Small Coppers in the same area, itself quite a nice encounter; some of which were bright fresh individuals.  I spotted a longhorn beetle and started to photograph it, (later identified as Golden-bloomed Longhorn), and as I manoevred into a better position, I realised that the White-letter Hairstreak was feeding on a Ragwort right next to where I was standing!  They are so slow-moving they're difficult to detect unless you are looking straight at them.  I took some photos with my phone (I couldn't get into a position with my camera) and after a while it flew, and following some searching I found it on the other side of the road.  However it turned out the second one was a different individual, with more worn fringes and a slightly different 'W' shape.

Small Copper, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 400 (view full size image)

Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640 (view full size image)

White Letter Hairstreak, 1/602 sec, f/1.7, 4.2 mm, ISO 40 (view full size image)

White Letter Hairstreak, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 400 (view full size image)