Broken links to other websites updated 16 July 2022
30 July 2014 – BBC website:
Keri Davies, producer of The Archers, posted an article about the Brown Hairstreak written by Dr Martin Warren (link updated 16 July 2022) of Butterfly Conservation. The discovery of this butterfly in Ambridge gave hope to those campaigning against the building of a new road that would divide the land of Brookfield Farm. As Butterfly Conservation reported at the time, the Brown Hairstreak had previously featured in The Archers in September 2009 (link updated 16 July 2022), when Linda Snell became very excited about seeing one in the Memorial Gardens in Ambridge.
Keri Davies, producer of The Archers, posted an article about the Brown Hairstreak written by Dr Martin Warren (link updated 16 July 2022) of Butterfly Conservation. The discovery of this butterfly in Ambridge gave hope to those campaigning against the building of a new road that would divide the land of Brookfield Farm. As Butterfly Conservation reported at the time, the Brown Hairstreak had previously featured in The Archers in September 2009 (link updated 16 July 2022), when Linda Snell became very excited about seeing one in the Memorial Gardens in Ambridge.
Brown Hairstreak Butterfly
Female Brown Hairstreak Photo by Dr Judy Webb
Information supplied by David Redhead of the Upper Thames Valley Branch of Butterfly Conservation
The Brown Hairstreak, Thecla betulae, is nationally rare and declining. In 2007 it was made a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species and included in the 2010 UK Butterfly Red List (link updated 16 July 2022) classed as "Vulnerable". The local population of this species, centred on Bernwood Forest to the NE of Oxford in the vicinity of Horton-cum-Studley, is one of less than 10 in the UK but recently appears to be gradually expanding its range. The area of range expansion includes the Marston and Headington districts of the City of Oxford. The decline of the species is largely due to the loss of hedgerows and the increased destruction of over-wintering eggs by more drastic management of hedgerows following the introduction of the mechanical flail.
This butterfly lays its eggs almost exclusively on recent growth of Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, always at the junction of two shoots. However, eggs were also found in the Spring of 2010, and at the beginning of 2011, in a garden in Marston on sucker growth from another prunus species. (Although the link to the photo of a Blackthorn hedge shows it in blossom, only the small buds of the Blackthorn flowers are visible when the egg hunts take place.)
Members of NMWG joined in some of the egg hunts in the New Marston area:
Sunday, 6 March 2011 Brown Hairstreak Butterfly egg hunt in Marston Meadows (link to photos to be updated)
Wendy Wilson was in charge of the count and reported that the total number of eggs found was 104, beating all previous records for the site. The breakdown was as follows: Section 1: 61 eggs; Section 2: 5 eggs; Section 3: 7 eggs; Section 4: 13 eggs; Section 5: 18 eggs.
Female Brown Hairstreak Photo by Dr Judy Webb
Information supplied by David Redhead of the Upper Thames Valley Branch of Butterfly Conservation
The Brown Hairstreak, Thecla betulae, is nationally rare and declining. In 2007 it was made a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species and included in the 2010 UK Butterfly Red List (link updated 16 July 2022) classed as "Vulnerable". The local population of this species, centred on Bernwood Forest to the NE of Oxford in the vicinity of Horton-cum-Studley, is one of less than 10 in the UK but recently appears to be gradually expanding its range. The area of range expansion includes the Marston and Headington districts of the City of Oxford. The decline of the species is largely due to the loss of hedgerows and the increased destruction of over-wintering eggs by more drastic management of hedgerows following the introduction of the mechanical flail.
This butterfly lays its eggs almost exclusively on recent growth of Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, always at the junction of two shoots. However, eggs were also found in the Spring of 2010, and at the beginning of 2011, in a garden in Marston on sucker growth from another prunus species. (Although the link to the photo of a Blackthorn hedge shows it in blossom, only the small buds of the Blackthorn flowers are visible when the egg hunts take place.)
Members of NMWG joined in some of the egg hunts in the New Marston area:
Sunday, 6 March 2011 Brown Hairstreak Butterfly egg hunt in Marston Meadows (link to photos to be updated)
Wendy Wilson was in charge of the count and reported that the total number of eggs found was 104, beating all previous records for the site. The breakdown was as follows: Section 1: 61 eggs; Section 2: 5 eggs; Section 3: 7 eggs; Section 4: 13 eggs; Section 5: 18 eggs.
For a map showing the location of the sections referred to above (courtesy of Bedfordshire Natural History Society), click here.
Friday, 21 January 2011
Doris Field Memorial Field (link to photos to be updated) Just David and Steve were out hunting on this occasion)
David Redhead and Steve Woolliams found 50 eggs on blackthorn. If much of the Blackthorn had not recently been cut down, the count would have been significantly higher.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010: comment by David Redhead:
"The members of the New Marston Wildlife Group are the tops and the talk I gave [to the NMWG] on the Butterflies of Oxfordshire in January 2008 was one of the best investments of my time and effort I have ever made" .
David listed the following achievements:
Doris Field Memorial Field (link to photos to be updated) Just David and Steve were out hunting on this occasion)
David Redhead and Steve Woolliams found 50 eggs on blackthorn. If much of the Blackthorn had not recently been cut down, the count would have been significantly higher.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010: comment by David Redhead:
"The members of the New Marston Wildlife Group are the tops and the talk I gave [to the NMWG] on the Butterflies of Oxfordshire in January 2008 was one of the best investments of my time and effort I have ever made" .
David listed the following achievements:
- March 2008 - NMWG helped with the Marston Meadows Brown Hairstreak egg transect and set a new records of 23 eggs.
- 12th August 2008 - Judy Webb spotted a female Brown Hairstreak at Milham Ford Nature Reserve, thereby adding a new kilometre square to the range.
- 11th September 2008 - Steve Woolliams saw a female Brown Hairstreak in his back garden, adding another new kilometre square to the range.
- March 2009 - assistance from NMWG with a survey of the Marston Meadows egg transect, helping to increase the record to 35 eggs.
- March 2010 - assistance from NMWG with a survey of the Marston Meadows Brown Hairstreak egg transect - record broken with a total of 59 eggs.
- 24th March - two eggs found by Steve Woolliams in blackthorn in the Lye Valley. (David had searched the blackthorn in the Lye Valley twice in previous winters without success.) These were the first eggs found in the kilometre square where he saw the female in September 2008. The same day he added a third egg for the square in his nearby allotments.
- 27th March - while visiting Lorraine Irwin's garden to check out newts and other wildlife in a pond, Judy Webb noticed some sucker growth from a prunus spp tree. She decided it was worth checking out for Brown Hairstreak eggs and discovered five.
With regard to the last find, David added:
"I have never seen Brown Hairstreak eggs laid on anything but blackthorn (prunus spinosa). Lorraine's eggs only just miss adding another new kilometre square to the range but it has inspired me to check out some blackthorn I know of in Franklin Road, which would add a new square. It has also made me realise that in an urban context we need to extend the range of plants we search.
Lorraine has a very special garden with a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority species which is also a Red List Butterfly (threatened/ vulnerable) breeding in it. This makes her a member of an elite band but perhaps some others of you or your neighbours can join the band".
Purple Hairstreaks (link updated 16 July 2022) will definitely be frequenting the oak trees in July and August and they can be a confusion species for the Brown Hairstreak. A bit earlier than this are White-letter and Black Hairstreaks Hairstreaks - both are not out of the question for the Meadows. I shall be having a look for both in June and as the more eyes the better is always a good rule for these elusive Hairstreaks I will send round an email just before I go - it will have to be a short notice decision.
Much less likely but not impossible is a Green Hairstreak in April or May. All these Hairstreaks, except the Purple, are somewhat rare and special so seeing any of them will be a noteworthy event for the Meadows.
A Black Hairstreak would be a real coup, as one of the UK's leading experts on the species is now a Prof at Oxford Uni and has an office in the Dept of Zoology. It would give me great delight to inform him that a brisk lunchtime walk may allow him to see a Black Hairstreak.
There is also a White-letter Hairstreak, which lives in the tops of Elm trees throughout England and Wales. It declined during the 1970s when its food source was reduced by Dutch Elm Disease, but it now seems to be making a comeback in some areas .
Sunday, 14 March 2010 Another Brown Hairstreak Butterfly egg hunt - Marston Meadows (link to be updated)
(a different area from what was surveyed on 7 March). Comments by David Redhead:
"The most southerly hedge of the transect turned out to be a bit of a disappointment with just 5 eggs, which was a third of last year's count. But for the next meadow north the record, again, was broken, with a total of 10 eggs (just 3 last year), 9 of which were on the south-facing northern hedge and 1 on the west-facing eastern hedge. So the final total for the transect was a very pleasing 59 as against 1 in 2005, 3 in 2006, 22 in 2007, 23 in 2008 & 35 in 2009.
As you can see, there has been a significant increase in eggs year-on-year from near zero being laid in the summer of 2004. As we only find at best a quarter of the eggs that are there - up to half go missing over the winter (eaten or dropped off) and the transect only represents a fraction of the suitable blackthorn to be found on Marston Meadows - a quick fag-packet calculation shows the total number of eggs laid in Marston Meadows in the summer of 2009 was probably into four figures.
As a female Brown Hairstreak is thought to be capable of laying about 200 eggs, I think it is fairly safe to assume several females were active in the Meadows last summer and some mating occurred in the local ash and oak trees. So you could claim that a self-sufficient colony has established itself in the meadows, which represent very good habitat for the species. Personally I don't like talking about colonies for this species, as our studies indicate there is just one more or less seamless population.
So from the last week in July to the first week in October it is worth keeping an eye open for Brown Hairstreak adults within or near the meadows (gardens are not excluded as one recipient of this email can tell you). The males appear first and tend to confine their activities to the canopy of ash and oak trees. The females tend to join them when they start to emerge a week later and, having been mated, will start to come down to the blackthorn from mid-August to lay their eggs.
You can also find them nectaring on bramble flowers, thistles and wild angelica. Some years very few nectarers are seen, some years lots are seen - respectively this probably represents good and bad years for aphids as their favourite food is the honeydew (aphid excretion) to be found on the leaves of ash and oak trees. If you do see an adult please, please let me know". E-mail red.admiral AT virgin.net