Green Hairstreak

With Dave out of circulation for the day I was on my own. Should I go birding and try to close some of the gap on Dave in our "its not a race" birding rivalry. Or should I go Butterflying and try to close the gap in that "its not a race" challenge. I thought about going after a Grasshopper Warbler but they will be around for a while yet. In the end I went for the spring Butterflies. Bad weather and I might miss my chance.

Mill Hill Nature Reserve was the chosen location and the real target of the day was the Green Hairstreak. The weather in the morning was a bit overcast and I was worried that there would be nothing flying. I did have a bit of a slow start but things gradually picked up as the morning went on. Just searching a small area I found about a dozen Dingy Skippers and probably half that number of Grizzled Skippers.

Dingy Skipper (Male)

Dingy Skipper (Female)

Grizzled Skipper

Grizzled Skipper

The Green Hairstreaks were not so easy to locate. I could only find one, but fortunately I got that early in the morning when it was not very active.

Green Hairstreak

There were a number of other Butterflies around, Peacock, Brimstone, Small White, and  Tortoiseshell but the only one stopping to pose for a picture was the Speckled Wood.

Speckled Wood

There were also a few day flying moths about. Most of them were micro moths that probably only have a Latin name, but there was one particularly colourful moth around. It was definitely flying during the day but I cannot find it in the list of day flying moths. It looks a bit like a Mint Moth Pyrausta Aurata or Pyrausta Purpuralis but it has white markings instead of gold and the purple colouration is tending more to pink. Bit of a mystery really. If anyone recognises it please let me know.

Unknown Day Flying Moth   Pyrausta ostrinalis