Prees Heath - Purple Hairstreaks

After dipping Purple Hairstreak at Prees Heath early on and then managing decent results with talisman Dave Chapman on the 16th, we were back again hoping for better opportunities? Better indeed, we had astonishing views of several down low in an oak and they weren't going anywhere!

Two together to kick off!

And then slowly but surely some opening wing moments...

A smart female with much less purple in the upperwing than the male!

Males were more numerous and even more obliging!

Stunning moements!

It was worth seeing in close up what they were us to? Feeding on insect honeydew ...

And so totally preoccupied, the macro lens was brought into play!

A simply amazing session :-)

Prees Heath - Purple Hairstreaks

A second attempt at these notoriously tricky butterflies with 'good luck' charmer Dave Chapman. Purple Hairstreaks are easy to see, if you look up at the top of the Oak trees they frequent but a nightmare to get them down low enough for photography. With a little persuasion, one or two entered the acceptable zone...

Open wing moments just didn't happen! A flicker of wing separation on a couple of occasions but that was your lot!

Best described as charismatic rather than beautiful, these are probably the best I've managed of this species?

As for the open wing shot? One day...

Prees Heath - Emperor Dragonfly

I'm currently on 15 species of Odonata for the year in Shropshire and I wasn't expecting to add to that whilst looking for Butterflies! That is until an Emperor Dragonfly turned up whilst phographing Silver-studded Blues! A check of the the nearby pool and another one from the footpath gave a tally of seven on the wing here!

I never saw a single one land either!

They were too busy chasing each other off from where they had staked a territory!

Come to think about it, they were too bust chasing, I didn't see thewm eat much prey either!

So long...

Prees Heath - Silver studded Blue

It's been ten years since I put in an appearance at Prees Heath for the Silver-studded Blue Butterflies! Too long as they made a perfect morning weather-wise even more special!

I'd missed the main emergence but there was one male sat on a bramble, letting the final fold in the wing unwrap!

Ladies first for the blog but in reality this was one of the last ones to be found!

Feeding almost exclusively on Birds-foot Trefoil

Then sat on a leaf whilst the heat was building up around midday! Despite the presence of nearby males, not a single one tried his luck!

A few more pics of some males, I took loads and couldn't bear to delete many of them :-)

The mandatory closed wing shot so the granular studs can be enjoyed!

Then wings open for sheer delight!

Arty views whilst perched on a stick!

Then back to the first shots of the day, a supremely fresh male!

Maybe I should make an annual event of this rather than celebrating decades?

Prees Heath - Silver Studs

Decisions decisions?? They make or break a day and I had oodles of luck going with me this weekend! I had decided to ignore the Derbyshire Western Bonelli’s Warbler yesterday and it had proved to be a virtual ‘no show’ day! I was up for it today though and opted for late afternoon as I was up there anyway (picking up Gemma from Manchester Airport!) A busy morning meant it was lunchtime before I departed and another good decision* – checking out Prees Heath on the way! I thought I may have been too late for updating my images with some ‘larger files’ of Silver-studded Blue butterflies. There were some really dire ones on the wind, tattered and torn wings but amazingly (a recent emergence??) quite a few pristine specimens too!) Males, really nice fresh one here
The 'silver' (actually metallic blue) studs not always evident on the underwing!
Females, as they do showing variable amounts of blue suffusing the predominantly brown upperwing.....
At least we can see those blue studs now!
Ringlet plus good numbers of Small Heath were also seen *Twas a good decision as the Bonelli’s didn’t show all afternoon until just before I got there – how timely is that!

Prees Heath - Silver studded Blues

Look on any distribution map and you will see just how rare and 'local', the Silver-studded Blue butterfly has become. Prees Heath is now the only colony remaining in the Midlands and the only known location now for ssp masseyi of this species (Plebius argus). A complex habitat relationship with ants is essential for survival and the site is now managed by SWT in the hope of continued survival. They have been on the wing for a while now and some were looking a little worn / tatty but a few presentable specimens were posing nicely on the heather or gorse....

Males are a deep iridescent blue with a broad black border against the white fringe to the upperwings.....








Underwing detail.....






Females are brown, again glowing with iridescence in the sunlight. Orange spots at the wing edges.....








The underwing detail, with the silver studs (light blue actually) showing nicely!








Back to birds then, another Hobby was seen over the heath. The final destination was a barley field off the A41 between Whitchurch and Tern Hill. Friends ringing on Whixall Moss had alerted us to a Quail calling earlier in the week, plus a possible Blue-headed Wagtail.....