Brown Hairstreak Egg Hunt
11/12/10 18:53 Filed in: events
Saturdays Brown Hairstreak Egg Hunt was attended by about 20 intrepid souls who met up on the Rifle Range and were treated to an interesting introduction to the history & breeding habits of this elusive butterfly by Michael Blencoe & Neil Hulme of Sussex Butterfly Conservation. It was fascinating to find out that West Sussex was a hotspot for the Brown Hairstreak and that hardly any butterflies or eggs had been found in East Sussex. No time was lost and we were soon finding numerous eggs in the Hairstreak Reserve. We stopped counting when a total of 50 eggs was reached. Everyone got to see some, often magnified with hand lenses, and even through a microscope attached to a laptop provided by Dave & Penny Green. It is unusual to find so many eggs in such a small area. They are more often found in ones & twos.
It was very heartening to hear from Neil that he thought our reserve was already probably the best site in the UK for observing the butterfly, and the continuing management here can only make it better. I can’t wait for next year to see how many adults we get.
PV