Still Flukier

Seriously attentive readers might recall that in this post I concluded that I'd seen all the butterfly species I was going to see this year, barring a fluky Clouded Yellow or a 'still flukier Brown Hairstreak', the most elusive of all our butterflies... Well, this morning the 'still flukier' happened. I was strolling in the grounds of the local Ecology Centre – just making my way out actually – when I saw what I took to be a Gatekeeper fly down and settle on the lawn. I went over to have a look (they're beautiful little things) and when I saw its (actually her) underwings I knew it was no such thing. Could it be...? Yes, it was, as she promptly confirmed by flying off a little way and settling, wings folded, on the leaf of a bush, affording me a clear view of those beautiful and definitive 'hairstreaks'. A female Brown Hairstreak in prime condition. Alas, by the time I had laid my hands on my camera, she had flown off, this time disappearing over the roof of a building – but I had seen her, my first since a memorable occasion three years ago – and in the same place. I went on my way rejoicing.