2009 Archive White-letter Hairstreak news

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NOT ALL REPORTS CAME FROM TARGET SQUARES.
PHOTOS OF TARGET SITES WELCOME

2009

Wednesday 16th December 2009
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed and supported this project.

The end of the project is in sight and despite my posting of the 6th November saying everything would be updated, several pages are still waiting to be edited. The map page does show the most up to date progress though and we think does tell the story. We would ask that everyone who has contributed records submits them immediately (if not already done) to the relevant county/branch recorder so that they get incorporated in 'the system' before the Millennium Atlas update. Details are here

In the last few weeks we have made several more survey visits and have tried with no success to get records close to TQ62 in the south of England and TF32 in the Fenland area with Martin Greenland's help. We hope to have a interim report published in the spring and a more scienctific paper will follow. It is however still likely that we will endeavour to visit some of the 'emerging' areas next year to try and find even more new colonies of white-letter hairstreak? - Liz Goodyear and Andrew Middleton

Friday 6th November 2009
Latest news will follow shortly. Maps and target details will be updated as soon as possible after a recent country wide tour by AM/LG

Tuesday 11th August 2009
Gavin Woodman confirms 2 clashing adults in SJ70 at 10km level on the 31st July and Andrew finds white-letter (and purple hairstreak) have become very elusive in the West Country on a final flight period visit.

Saturday 1st August 2009
A brilliant day for Ken and Jill in SD51 (Lancashire). After our egg find last week, they went out even though the forecast was bad and found adults at three different locations within the 10km square during the afternoon. Just proves they are still flying! "We went to an area right in the centre of SD51 which we hadn't explored before (for some reason) , called Park Hall at Charnock Richard just above the service area on the M6.This is a hotel complex surrounded by trees. Sure enough we found a likely looking elm and after waiting and watching, a WLHS was spotted high in the canopy at 1 20pm. You can imagine our delight!!!! Later we went to more elms seen at SD591 163 near the river bridge at Chorley and at 5 40 in the sun we saw 3 individuals flitting round one of the elms. After that sighting, we visited the 3 elms you found at Coppull down the lane opposite the rugby ground and after only a few minutes 1 individual gave good views as it flew from the elm over the lane and back again. Absolutely fantastic! Although the area where Ken works SD 56671: 27462 At Bamber Bridge near Preston is not a target square, we thought you might be interested to know that he saw 1 WLHS on July 15th and 2 on 16th. "

Richard Southwell finds an adult on elm in SO8189 (West Midlands), where an egg had been found in the spring

Helen Bantock confirms adults in SH62 (north Wales), flying high around elms which are incredibly hard to view.

We returned from a 5 night trip around the north of England and north Wales on Thursday with good results despite some appauling weather which slowed our progress down. Our travels started on Saturday 25th with a visit to the two remaining targets in north east Yorkshire. We arrived at the elm in SE89 found by Martin Greenland (which was almost the only elm!) and after waiting for some cloud to pass over, at least three adults were seen flying around a sycamore. Our next stop was NZ70 where we knew there was an egg record on the national data base. We watched some good elm just as we entered at 10km level, but nothing and continued through to Glaisdale. A quick possible flicker of a hairstreak was seen in the top of an elm but it was only later that we realised that this is not considered a 'purple' area so assume now that this was an adult, however, a hatched egg was found at 10km level (this is the same 2km square as the old record but at a different location). Little more elm was found as we went through to the 2km elm found my Martin Greenland and our opinion is that it is probably too isolated to support a colony? We drove on to Northumberland and NY96. It started to rain on Sunday the 26th so we decided to drive further north and look for non-target potential sites to try and determine where the range of the species in this direction ends? We drove through Morpeth where there are records, and found the town to be elm rich and further on a large tree was found at Alnwick at NU200126 and at Newton on the Moor close to the A1 (NU175041) where there is a very long length of elm although no eggs were found. Barry Prater visited this elm on Friday in sub-optimum conditions and did not see any adults though. We drove back and found more elm in the target of NZ07 including two really large trees which we had missed on previous visits. We checked for eggs on one but found nothing and despite some late weak sunshine no adults were observed. Again there is a record for this 10km square so we wanted to watch in really sunny conditions. Next morning, we first visited the 1km elm found in NY96 and upgraded the 10km record to 1km with a fresh egg. The sun started to show signs of shining so we rushed back to NZ07 but it never materialised on this more hilly 10km square and after more eggs searches and watching the sky line for blue sky, we gave up disappointed as we needed to move on. We tried to watch elm in NY86 but the weather conditions and angle were difficult so didn't try very hard. We drove south and through Wensleydale to SE08 and managed to park the car along the A684 near some sheltered elm in a cutting, for once the sun was shining but it was very windy. Through binoculars a white-letter was seen flying over the elm. We found more elm in SD99 including a huge elm just on the edge of the south side of the 10km square, but conditions were very windy and no adults were seen on any of the elm we looked at. We crossed the Pennines and reached Cumbria for our third night only to wake up on Tuesday morning to find it was raining again! We couldn't look for adults so decided to look for more elm in SD58 where we had found elm in the winter and is an adjacent 10km square to where the first confirmed Cumbrian records had been recorded in 2008. We found some elm close to the end of navigation of the Lancaster Canal and to our total surprise (and delight of the Cumbrian Branch of BC) found a fresh egg on the first bit of elm we looked at! We drove south to SD51 where despite the efforts of Jill and Ken, no adults had been found on elm close to the target, we decided to look for eggs on the first good elm habitat we found which was in Astley. Again a fresh egg was found but we couldn't get any records closer to the target so we continued our drive into north Wales. The rain just fell out of the sky and continued into Wednesday. We looked for eggs in SJ04 and realised that the elm found at Corwen by Gavin Woodman should be of sufficient quality and linked to adjacent 10km squares to support white-letter. We had to wait til Thursday morning to confirm this with at least three adults and two clashing males seen through binoculars. Earlier a purple hairstreak had flown around some other elm! On Wednesday, because of the rain we decided to drive towards Anglesey and the coast which proved to be a wise decision as the rain stopped here. We visited SH67 where there are historic records and a empty pupal case was found. We believe this might be the first record since the 1970s but were unable to find adults or eggs on Anglesey. Returning home on Thursday we tried to find adults in SH90 but only purple were seen. This is my last summer survey trip although AM hopes the sun might shine next week for his final attempt at the west country as it obvious that the species is still flying strongly in some areas.! We will continue to search for eggs in the autumn in the remaining targets so please keep looking and thanks to everyone that has helped - LG/AM

Thursday 23rd July 2009
A new category has been added to the mapping page key. Showing additional records which we believe to be the edge of the species range or in regions where there are few records
Frustrating weather and plenty of rain and wind, but in the sunny breaks white-letter was active, unfortunately not always in the target! Drove into Wales in torrential rain but a few sunny breaks on Sunday in ST07 allowed up to find more elm at 2km level and adults were seen. Nothing at 1km level though. We tried SN91 and found more wych elm but this is seriously high and we feel that they have emerged. There is an old record so we can't dismiss this target and we saw them in SN90 as the sun shone first thing which we believe is a new 10km? Also seen at two site on the route to Lampeter. Nothing in SN54 although Andrew did did see 'a hairstreak' in his bins at Lampeter by the elm. The 21st dawned very wet, and we went to SN03 to look for more elm and this was found by the Pembroke Coast Path in Newport. We waited patiently for the sun to shine and at 2 o'clock it did and so did white-letter fly! We were thrilled as there haven't been any records from this area for about 20 years (we believe). One was also seen in another 10km in the area. We tried up the coast but only purple hairstreak and then we drove across to SJ00 where it started to rain again and we looked for eggs on some lovely wych elm, 2 fresh eggs were found. So despite only 3 targets completed we are still pleased with the fact we found white-letter in 7 x 10km squares across Wales - LG/AM

Thursday 16th 2009
A short visit to the West Country from Sunday to Tuesday, proved to be very frustrating! Weather conditions were difficult with much cloud punctuated with only moments of sunshine, strong winds and quite a lot of rain! We started with SY69, perfect conditions as the day warmed up, and the only lepidoptera flying around the elms were Vapourer moths including one seen perched under a leaf! Checked some elm at Winterbourne Abbas where the only known 10km record is but conditions/angle not favourable (also only viewed from a very busy main road!). Then to SY19 (Ottery St Mary first) and by now cloud cover was heavy. In some short moments of sunshine (including duller conditions), mid afternoon hairstreaks were seen flying around the elms. Despite initial excitement, conditions would not have suited White-letter and we waited for one to perched - they were all Purple Hairstreaks including at the Honition elm where there was hardly any oak!!! Monday started dull so we didn't revisit for long and drove to Torpoint in Cornwall where we had identified some really good areas of elm. Despite being sunny, wind was fresh but we watched some good elm only to see again another Purple Hairstreak (the minute you see the wings open you know it isn't white-letter!). Then more cloud at Cargreen Quay so on to Grogley Halt near Bodmin where there are some historic records. Again only a Purple Hairstreak!!! Finally on Tuesday with time running out we came off the M5 at Cullompton services in ST00 and immediately saw a white-letter around the elm as we drove up the slip road. Another was seen over the elm canopy - this we believe is a new 10km record. We didn't have time to visit the 1km elm so drove on to ST64. This must be the windiest target known and the 2km elm was really difficult to view. We also looked at 10km elm but in mid afternoon nothing was flying even when the sun tried to shine! Liz and Andrew (another trip is planned for next week)

Jill Hearing reports a White-letter on the 2nd July on short grass in the University of Oxford Botanic Gardens (this is SP50 at 10km level)

News from 12th July: Observed two adults feeding on creeping thistle at Hollingbury Park, Brighton. The city of Brighton and Hove has some 17,000 elm trees. I am Species Champion for the White-letter Hairstreak in Sussex. 2009 has been a good year in terms of adults recorded -mainly due to the relatively sunny conditions - Caroline Clarke (Sussex Branch)

News From 14th July.......Visited two North Staffordshire locations, weather forecast was good weather for the morning and bad for afternoon, so arrived early. Sun didn't show until 12 - 12.30 !! Got fed-up waiting and went to the opposite end of the old rail line to record common species in the hills and valleys close to the line. Sun came out so went to the Elm tree at that end of the rail line by a bridge single WLH watched searching the tree top every time the sun came out for a few minutes, walked a mile or so back to the car then went back to the original location at SJ9361, from a high position on a bridge straightway could see two perched WLH, watched these clash several time going many meters high above the tree, Went to look at the very large Wych Elm that was close by (I think this is by far the largest Wych Elm i have seen) and clashing WLH could be seen near the top on the sheltered side. Been targeting areas that i had previously noted good concentrations of mature Wych Elm. News from the 8th to 12th: all going very well with my WLH recording I now only have two adjacent 10km locations were I had previously found good quantities of Wych Elm remaining to visit, (North Staffordshire) Previously I had dismissed some locations I had found abundant elm trees as being to high at a slightly higher altitude than 183m. This rural location (see 8/7/09) at 183m could mean some places i had dismissed could be suitable, especially in town/villages with their slightly warmer temp. For latest notes: 8/7/09 Dull start then sunny, activity seen at 12noon, despite strong wind WLH clashes and perched adults found in the most sheltered locations in SJ8439, SJ8440 and SJ8441. Checked old Elm in SJ7740 to exposed to the wind, 100m away small elm tree sheltered by ash trees, egg laying activity observed on low branches and clashing pair above in the ash, altitude of this location recorded at 183m. 9/7/09 Sunny start arrived at first elm at 10am, clashes straight away, clashes and perched adults observed in SK1140, SK1040, SK0940, SK0941. Ringlets also found extending their range. 10/7/09 Sunny start activity started at 9am, clashes and perched adults observed in several locations in SK0912, single perched adult in SK0714. Single perched adult in SJ9316 most of the elm now suffering with DED. Found area in SJ9314 and SJ9315 road cutting 400m of abundant small leaved elm, some good size with abundant sucker growth, perched and clashing adults observed (First time i have found WLH on this type of Elm in my area). 12/7/09 Sunshine and showers, strong wind, sunny periods started around 11.30am. visited large Wych Elms in SJ3631, after rain stopped and sun had been out for a while spotted some movement, got the scope on it but it was Purple Hairstreak, All the Elms on the canal to exposed, moved to large elm at SJ3733 on the corner of a wood sheltered from the wind, as i approached clashing pair seen, observed repeating clashes from this pair and spotted egg laying activity, this was seen at 2pm. 14/07/09 complete cloud cover until after 12pm, then some good sunny periods Disused rail line, Single WLH observed on large Wych Elm at SJ9756 (altitude 164m) 1pm Disused rail line with very large Wych Elms at SJ9361 (altitude 174m), good view from a bridge, perched and clashing adults observed on several trees 2pm - Gavin Woodman (West Midlands)

Got to the Iden tetrad c.3-45pm on Sunday. The weather had improved markedly apart from the wind which had increased dramatically, after looking at the area nearby where I knew WLH are present. I decided to look at the higher ground closer to the 1k tetrad ended up parking where I did a couple of years ago in the village walked towards the area on the OS map shown as the Elms a flailed hedgerow under telephone wires. Coming back again looked at a few scrubby bits of flailed Elm under Ash and noticed Ivy growing up some trunks. Then realised there was some passable Elm pushing over into a horse paddock. By luck a Comma and Red Admiral were sparring and disturbed everything in this sheltered corner including an "WLH nectaring on bramble" c.10 feet up on a mature hawthorn hedgerow. Elm noticed in the 1k square northwards. Did not expect to get a 1k record for here! only just by a few metres. got to the Ashford 2k tetrad too late on the drive home, always some healthy Elm here (suckers at least) - Alan Cooper (Kent)(on going from a 10km record in TQ92 to 1km!)

News from 4th July: West Midlands branch walk at Trenchwood, three adults seen. I have since tried to find WLH in Stourbridge area, where elm is in fair condition this year, without any success and on the 15th July in SO 7451 in flight landing on a leaf 7feet high - Richard Southwell (West Midlands)

A quick update on today's exploits; no White-letter Hairstreaks seen, I'm afraid. The weather was warm-ish (16-17C) and a bit breezy with over 50% sun. NU0435 (Northumberland) Looked at Elms found previously at the 10km level. Two near Hetton North farm (NU019360) don't get much sun and are rather exposed, especially when the wind blows. Another good Elm, but isolated on the roadside at NU019366, proved negative too. Just outside this square there is a line of mature trees, including several reasonable and sheltered Elms, running east-west and so getting good sun (NT994394). This would be a good place for a colony to start up and possibly expand. I was briefly excited by what turned out to be a Small Copper fluttering around and settling on leaves. NT8633 (Northumberland) I'd earlier located Elms in the adjacent 1km square. Along the B6351 there are many small-medium Elms interspersed with Ash, Oak, Sycamore, Hawthorn, Cherry, etc., either side of NT861327 for about 200m. Some leaf damage noted on some of the Elms. Because many of the accompanying trees are mature they create a sheltered, almost woodland environment and would be ideal for the butterfly. And the number of Elms represnt a good corridor for spread. NT8265 (Scottish Borders) No leaf damage evident on the one large Elm, but the small ones did have some; too windy to expect the butterflies to move much though. I will return here later. I am looking at Elms elsewhere up here. The lovely Elm outside Preston village which I mentioned earlier in the year which was in full flower/seed, now appears to be dying with very few leaves. A photo from June is attached. - Barry Prater (on the Scottish Borders)

Saturday 11th 2009
Went out again as the weather improved and found 3 individuals at SD644115 on an elm in Horwich Parish churchyard next to the school where I taught for many years and to think what was over the wall and I didn't know! We know this isn't a target area, but thought you'd like to know anyway. Back to our SD51 t'm'row...weather permitting - Jill and Ken

Bolton SD 70...!!! Hooray!!! Visited this morning and...after 30 mins we saw 3 individuals flying above the tree across the road from Queen's park. One was spotted first perched on a leaf high in the canopy and then it flitted upwards and was joined by the other two. That was at 9 45am. Encouraged, we drove over to our tetrad at SD 51 but by the time we arrived, the clouds had closed in and the temp had dropped so no luck I'm sorry to say. However tomorrow is another day and we're going to SD 51 first - Jill and Ken

Wednesday 8th 2009
Tried to beat the cloud in Lincolnshire......arrived in TF36 just as the sun was shining and visited the 10km planted elm we had found the previous week, a white-letter was seen almost immediately flying from ash. Rushed to the 2km elm but the target was in a more hilly location and the cloud was already covering the site. There were occasional moments of brightness and a tantilising sight of a lepidoptera of white-letter size and flight flew through but whilst cloudy, then later to make matters worse a Holly Blue was seen. We left after an hour and went to TF32, where we had a bit more sun but still no luck although a small lepidoptera was seen flying between elm and sycamore and then a Holly Blue was seen - LG/AM

Monday 6th 2009
A very good weekend, WLH in 6 of the eight 10km locations i tried for at the weekend. 4/7/09 Planned to walk around the junction of 4, 10km locations were i had found good amounts of elms last year, near woodland with old records, clashing and perched adults at the following locations. SK0929 Adults SK1029 Adults SK1028 Adults (historical records for this wood) SK1130 Adults, near Netherland Green, Staffordshire, Rural, 12noon, target at 10km, B5017 through this location about a dozen large elms spaced out along this stretch of mature hedgerow, sun came out twice, perched and clashing adults watched on two different areas of the more sheltered elms, total of 8 Adults counted at this location. 5/7/09 SJ33 two very large canal elms, sunny failed to see any(failed last year), many leaves with half the leaf eaten, i think this is good sign. waited till 10.30 then moved on as the clouds and rain arrived from the west. These three locations good numbers of clashes and perched adults, several females(i think, longer tip to the streak) seen walking under low branches, trailing curved abdomen maybe looking for egg sites. The locations of these Elms was supplied in that Excel spreadsheet were someone had mapped the locations of Elm trees on their canal holiday that you forwarded to me. A very old BIG Elm was found nearly covered in ivy, plenty of evidence of previous outbreaks of DED some years back but this one survives. SJ5138 Adults SJ5139 Adults SJ5140 Adults Haughmond Abbey Wood, near Shrewsbury (old records) Strip of open woodland dominated by Ash good amounts of Elm of all sizes, every Ash and Elm i could see from the track seemed to have two or three WLH fighting and clashing for territory, best site i have seen for numbers, and it is still early so numbers could build further (maybe as good as 2006 when i was seeing clashes involving five and six at some locations) SJ5415 Adults SJ5414 Adults - Gavin Woodman

Sunday 5th 2009
Over the weekend reports have come from SU29 (Jim Asher), Flintshire and Yorkshire. Tom Dunbar tried at SP50 on Saturday with no luck and AM returned on Sunday, but not very sunny, when he visited. However, he then went on to Wootton Bassett (SU08) and had a single white-letter on the elm found by Martin Greenland at the beginning of June at 2km level.

Wednesday 2nd July 2009
Over the last few days, Martin Greenland has upgraded TM09 to 1km level adults, adults have been seen at 1km level in TG20 (news via Andy Brazil) and SP90 (Tom Dunbar).

We started our tour of England on the 26th June with a trip to the IOW. Weather was thundery as we arrived on the IOW and we shocked/struck by the effect DED was having on the island's elm. We realised quite quickly that finding Wlh at target level in SZ58 would be hard so we concentrated on 10km level. On 27th June the day started dull, but Andrew Brookes (AB) had left a message that elm could be found near Sandown. We visited this as the sun broke and a wlh perched on the elm, a new 10k, so we drove back to some good elm found at 10km level in SZ58 and were rewarded with 2 adults on adjacent ash. The elm is already suffering from DED so may not survive many more years. We then drove to St Lawrence Undercliff where quality wych elm can be found (info from AB) and after some neck breaking searching a wlh perched on ash. Leaving the IOW we stopped by some elm near Osborne House and 2 wlh were seen clashing almost immediately. No WLh were reported from the IOW in 2008 but the butterfly is still present where elm survives. Driving to Dorset, we visited SY88 on Sunday morning and with sunny conditions no adults seen at 1 or 2km level but along A352 near Stokeford a single male was seen on ash by elm. Our feeling was that the butterfly was only just emerging and no adults were seen in SY69 or SY19 despite some quality elm and good sunshine. At this point we left the south and drove to Cheshire.... No adults were seen at the 1km level elm in SJ67 but a perched adult was seen through binoculars across the nearby dual carriageway and it was still in situ the next morning! Monday was cloudy and enroute to SJ68, a length of quality elm was seen beside the A49 and in a break of cloud 1 adult was seen in flight. At Arley Hall in SJ68, it was cloudy but parking in the main carpark, elm was seen across the track. We were about to walk to the elm found by Gavin when a butterfly flew into the elm, followed quickly by a small butterfly. It could be seen moving viewed in sillouettethrough the leaf and AM could see the antennae confirming Wlh. It was only as we left that we realised the GPS reading was at 2km level by 150m! SD52 had no sightings but we watched elm close to the M6 which was quality elm but subject to pollution? Driving into Bolton (SD70) it started to rain along the A673 large elms line the pavements (SD60) but fizzle out as we reached SD70. Elms were found around Queens Park and a first for us, a empty pupal case which meant the butterfly would be flying if it wasn't raining. Limited feeding damage visible and only one hatched egg found. Our final day (1st July) was to Lincolnshire where both targets (TF36 and 32) produced no sightings however, driving through Boston (TF34) three massive elms were found and adults were seen (last record 1930s?). Final stop was Peterborough (TF10) where we saw wlh at 1km level close to Peterborough Prison. Driving back along A1 close to Biggleswade, 2 wlh were seen clashing as we drove past at 60mph!!!LG/AM

Thursday 25th 2009
I am just informing you that on Wimbledon today at about 1 o clock, during the Venus Williams game, the cameras zoomed in on a white letter hairstreak!!! I couldn't believe it! Of course, none of the commentators said anything because they probably had no idea how special it was to see one! As an avid butterfly watcher for a number of years in Herefordshire I have sadly witnessed the decline of this wonderful butterfly. I saw my last one in Haugh Wood about two years ago. I just had to tell someone and hope that it may be of some use to you and can be recorded down. Ask the BBC for the footage!! Heather Walker. Thanks to Wendy Campbell of Upper Thames Branch here is the footage "If you can watch BBC's 'iplayer' okay on your computer then go to this tennis match and fast forward to 0.08-55 (it's 8 mins 55 secs into the match - the 3rd game of today's match between Williams & Bondarenko; score is one game all):-" http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/events/wimbledon/p003kbkh

We would like to encourage everyone to visit areas beyond the known range of the butterly. Here is a link to a page dedicated to the West Country!

Numerous reports from Hertfordshire and Middlesex but nothing on the Isle of Wight (Andrew Brookes). Chris Iles still thwarted by cloud at ST64 but saw wlh in Somerset (ST75) yesterday morning. We also had a report from Clinton Lambourne who works in Brighton and was was watching white-letter hairstreak from his office window! "At 10.30 approx 20 trees in an Elm conservation area in Brighton, at least 10. I am sitting at my desk in my office in the centre of Brighton over looking the Level, (a park)and can see the butterlies flying around a London Plain tree within 20m of a line of mature elm trees"

Tuesday 22nd June 2009
Had to come to Dorset yesterday to attend a funeral in Weymouth. Persuaded my husband that we should visit the SY88 target but only had about 20mins which co-incided with a blanket of cloud coming across! Consolation was that we ended up getting to Weymouth too early and at the bottom of the road near the crematorium was several planted 'hybrid' elms. Rushed down to watch them and two white-letter shot out from the canopy and back. SY663788 which my understanding is only the second record for that 10km square - the other in 1984. Depends if anything has been seen since 2006 though so was pretty pleased. Liz Goodyear

While on the golf course at about 8.45am today I saw a White-letter Hairstreak at rest on the 2nd fairway and another later on the 7th. This is the first time I have seen one this year although in previous years (excluding 2008) I have usually seen about 5-10 during the season. (I visit on average about twice a week.) Map ref. TQ070710. - Oliver Halford

Monday 21st June 2009
Over the weekend both Chris Iles in ST64, and us in SU08 and SP50 were thwarted by grey cloud (and rain). On arrival at SU08, we found the new elm identified by Martin Greenland at 2km level and watched in good sunshine, there was no activity so we assume they haven't emerged here however, once we reached the 10km elm, the sun simply gave up and we moved on to SP50 eventually. At the end of the day there was blue sky around us on the horizon but not where we were watching - so frustrating! Liz and Andrew

Friday 19th June 2009
Hertfordshire: Managed to visit the mass of elm on the High wych Rd at Pole Hole Farm again today from 11.24 - 11.40, almost constant WLH activity with clashes of up to 4 at a time and singles seen perching at the tops of the elms, I think at least 12 individuals, probably many more, but some parts cannot be viewed without wandering off the footpath, also here 1 common blue, 2 meadow brown & 1 large skipper. Then off to Mathams Wood nr Allens Green 11.55-12.15, viewing conditions were unfavourable due to the strong breeze, no WLH were seen,on the way back to the road singles of red admiral & small tortoiseshell were seen along with one very worn painted lady. Laurence Drummond

Just after 8.30 this morning, I arrived at my Ware elm tree. Wind was fresh and I didn't think the air temperature was that warm but it was sunny. There were immediate clashes and flights or at least 4 butterflies

Thursday 18th June 2009
Andrew Brookes reports: emergence well under way; on Monday I saw 5 on a scruffy line of Dutch elm suckers at the IBM headquarters in north Portsmouth, SU650051. Alas, our search for the insect in woods with Wych and Dutch elm adjacent to our main trials plantation at Great Fontley, Fareham, drew a blank.

Ware, Herts, a single wlh jittering around the edge of the canopy at 8.45 this morning. Weather conditions were fresh with a breeze so quite surprised to see one so early - LG

Wednesday 17th June 2009
Sharon Hearle saw WLH in Newmarket, Suffolk on Sunday 14 June at 9am and Barry Prater reports "Just to let you know that I've starting scanning Elms up here across the border, but I think it's still a couple of weeks too early for adults!" Far too windy in Hertfordshire to go out looking!

Tuesday 16th June 2009
Did some local visits in Herts & Middx today to see how wlh are progressing. Started at Cheshunt Park at around 9.45, a male was seen flying in and then over the course of about 30 mins about 5 or 6 were seen either perched or clashing. Moved along to Cuffley (TL3030), where some road side elm was watched. Eventually a single butterfly was seen jittering around the back of an elm close to houses. Nothing on some planted elms in the grounds of a leisure centre in Potters Bar (TL2400). Then close to Radlett some roadside elms (TL1600) had 1 perched all the time and 2 flying after a period of cloud. We then went to the Aquadrom at Rickmansworth (TQ055938) where a few weeks ago LG found 30 planted elms alongside the road that goes through the park. A bit slow to start with but 3 on the first section and then on the second area, we saw numerous clashes and a few perched. Safe count of 7 - this is a fantastic row of elm, which is easy to observe and well worth visiting in the early morning. Any news of counts would be welcome. After Rickmansworth we drove towards Hemel Hempstead via Bovingdon, and despite finding some nice elm in SP9902 nothing was seen. Finally having managed to take the wrong road out of Hemel we found 2 planted elms by a school (TL0606) and after about 2 mins one white-letter was seen in the canopy. We then went home! LG/AM

Two branch websites note white-letter on the 7th June at Cosham (Hampshire) and Brighton (W Sussex) on the 14th June.

3 white-letter hairstreaks over elm at Straight Rd, Harold Hill, at 11am (tetrad G TQ59). Bedfords Park 3 male WLH on ash, 2 on elm near damselfly pond early pm. 5 purple hairstreaks Bedfords Park / Lower Bedfords Rd in evening sun at last, 7.55-8.10pm, with some nice views of males on foliage - Colin Jupp

Sunday 14th June 2009
Went to the big Warehorne Elm (Kent) at 9-30 this morning within a couple of minutes a bird disturbed one on the small hedgerow tree then within a couple of Min's. one flew off the big tree, then nothing for an hour so went to meet a friend in Burnt Oak. Went back to Warehorne 4 pm. but cloud had increased along with the wind - Alan Cooper

Durants Park, Enfield, Middx, at least 7 white-letter in the canopy at around 10.30 today and 4 white-letter at the Cheshunt Park, Hertfordshire hybrid elms in the early afternoon - Liz Goodyear & Andrew Middleton

Saturday 13th June 2009
No adults on Friday 12th at TM09 (Attleborough, Norfolk) or TF92 (Great Ryburgh) but on Saturday 13th, 1 adult at 13.10 in canopy at the 'Ware' tree (Herts) and one adult at Horsenden Hiil, west Middlesex, Andy Culshaw

Thursday 11th June 2009
After three years visiting Feltwell (TL6991) Martin Greenland finally gets a hatched egg at 1km level on a wych elm. Martin also visits the Isle of Wight and finds elm at 1 and 2km level in the SZ58 target. No adults were observed at any of the sites he visited.

Crouch End, North London. I was down on the Parkland Walk just now 9.45-10.00 in good conditions and had no activity from the bridge but 2 clashing males and a probable third a bit further along. I wold have checked earlier if I'd been here. Tristan Bantock

Wednesday 10th June 2009
TQ59 tetrad F Romford Golf Course, Essex, 2 WLH males clashing and at rest 1.30pm, but DED worse now (English Elm) - Colin Jupp

Monday 8th June 2009
Negative reports have come in from Martin Greenland in TM09 (more elm found at 1km level), SP50 and SU08 (more elm found at 1 & 2km level). Alan Cooper also reports nothing seen at his Waterhorne elm. However, on Sunday 7th AM had further sightings in north London at three sites but not by Enfield Lock. Colin Jupp did not see any at his Essex sites (TQ59). LG had no sightings at her Ware elm (TL31)or a good bank of elm just outside Harlow in TL41 on the 8th June although the sunshine at the time should have been sufficient to make them fly. A new page has been added showing the flight period progress for 2009

Thursday 4th June 2009
Adult White-letter Hairstreak seen jittering over an elm in a north London park today just after lunchtime by Andrew Middleton!

Sunday 26th April 2009
Barry and Barbara Prater visit two of the last four targets in the Scottish borders/Northumberland. Elm is found at 10km level in both targets. SZ58 on the Isle of Wight and NY61 near Appleby remain unvisited. Note: Elms are heavily in seed at the moment and easily visible.

Wednesday 8th April 2009
One final survey trip for eggs...........(the elm is now too full of seed to make egg searching easy). Over the weekend 4th - 7th April, we made another trip to the West Country. Our first targets were three in Dorset, and more elm was found in SY88 at 2km level but very high and totally out of reach. Another visit to SY69 was negative at 2km level but success was finally achieved in ST70, when at last we actually found some elm at 10km level and when we did, we were successful in finding an old hatched egg. From Dorset we drove to Devon, and we returned to SX77, where we had to date been unsuccessful in finding adults or eggs despite some good elm. We knew that adults had been recorded in the SX77 section of Bovey Tracey Woods in addition to the SX78 section so we walked into the river valley and started looking for elm. For some time we couldn't see any and began to wonder whether the records were of a nectaring wander but suddenly on the hill side were some nice trees with low branches and much to our delight a hatched egg was found! We couldn't improve on the elm in SX79 so we continued on our travels towards Plymouth and the Cornish side of the River Tamar, in search of the first record in Cornwall for over 20 years..........it still remains unclaimed. Despite searches on quality elm almost opposite the Bere Ferrers target of SX46 but in Cornwall, several searches on the Torpoint peninsula no eggs were found. We have selected several worthy targets which we intend to visit in the flight period. It's hard to believe they are not present but as a result we have downgraded SW73 and SX16 to our new purple category! Day three continued with a visit to the Lynton/Lynmouth gorge where we had seen so much elm in December 2008. A walk up the gorge showed that elm, presumed to be wych elm is abundant and some nice elm was found in reach by Blackpool Bridge and an old egg was found! This we believe is the first north Devon record for 20 years. Day four was our last day and our first target was ST12 near Wellington. Several visits had been made and some elm was located next to an army camp outside Taunton. This wasn't the easiest of targets as security was rather high and we wondered how we would appear on the CCTV cameras. However, we were successful at finding a hatched egg at 10km level although we still feel that the 1 or 2km level could on the right day support white-letter (in the summer only purple were observed). Final sites were ST64 where we found more elm at 2km level but all out of reach and SU08 where we were looking for 10km elm south of the target. We are not sure whether the elm at 1 or 2km level could support white-letter so were searching away from the known records but no eggs were found at 10km level either for the time being. Now we just have to wait for the flight period! - LG/AM

Thursday 19th March 2009
Overdue news! First from 2nd March when we visited 5 sites around Birmingham. First stop was SP18, an industrial target on the edge of Birmingham. There were records from the 10km so we knew we had to get quite close, although we knew that there was no elm at target level. First stop was aptly named Elmdon Park and a nice elm beside housing produced 2 eggs. We then drove around the target at 1km and 2km level to double check that there was no elm. What we didn't expect was just 100m outside the 1km at 10km level would be some roadside elm which produced 2 hatched eggs. We think that this record could one of the closest to the centre of Birmingham on record. From this target we drove to SP07, where AM had searched the target in August 2008 and found no elm. Eventually we found some elm at 10km level and to our surprise we found a newly hatched egg and we believe this is a new 10km square. From this target we drove to SO88 where an adult had been recorded at 10km level last summer by Richard Southwell. We drove through at 1km level and saw hidden beside a wood, a single elm where we found another newly hatched egg. We then went to Grindle where Gavin Woodman had found elm beside a footpath. Following his directions we found the elm and a hatched egg. Finally we drove to SK00 but by now the light was fading and although we did find some 10km elm, we found no eggs.

On the 8th March we set off to look at targets in Cheshire, revisit sites in south Lancs and look at the North Wales targets. We had success at 2km level in SJ85 quite quickly and then went to SJ77 where we first tried to find some 10km elm to sample. Eventually we found an old hatched egg at SJ7573 and then found the 2km target elm identified by Gavin and again an old hatched egg was found. We then drove to SJ68 and then Bolton to revisit SD70 but no eggs found at either. Although we found some large elms at 10km level in SD51, these produced no eggs either but must be revisited during the flight period. On the 9th we went to SJ67, SJ04 and SH85 but we couldn't find any eggs in any of these at any target level, although SJ67 needed to be at 1km level. At the end of the day we visited SH87, which had not had any visits. A hatched egg was found on the tip of a twig at 10km level and then a giant elm was found at 1km level by the Police Station. More elm was found at 10km level and a hatched egg was found just a few metres outside the target. Whilst driving out of the target, we passed Wynn Gardens, which was a elm haven and we have subsequently found out that last summer white-letter were seen. On the 10th we visited more sites including SJ16, which has several old records. We looked at 2km elm and several sites at 10km level but it was only as we were just about to leave the 10km square that we found some elm which produced an hatched egg. Our next target was SJ45 where Gavin Woodman had found elm at 1km level, but this was hard to sample. First an old unhatched egg was found and then a hatched egg at 1km level. Our plan was then to go home but delays on the M6 meant that we rerouted our journey via the A50 which passed directly through SK13. Rob Foster had identified some elm at 1km level, and we looked at this and then some 2km elm where we found 4 hatched eggs across a growth joint on a really small elm tree. This is something we have never observed before so we decided to look at the 1km elm and found more and here a hatched egg was also found.

Our next trip was on the 17th March, it was going to be a long day and our plan was to first visit SK05 on the edge of the Peak District. The target was infact a high altitude target although visited by Gavin Woodman so we looked at lower altitudes for elm and found the River Hamps valley. Some elm was found at Ecton and a hatched egg was found. This we felt was a very good result as there were only two other known records at 10km level. We then revisited SK00 but sampled some elm enroute in SK02 which we believed had no records - a hatched egg was found! Just as we entered SK00, from the north we saw a large elm at 10km level behind a warehouse. One branch had collapsed and three hatched eggs were found. Driving through, we then saw a huge elm in a park as we went to the next target in SK20, where we encountered one of the largest elm trees noted in our survey work in Wigginton just north of Tamworth. No elm of any substance had been noted at 1km level but as we drove through the 2km, we found a large tree beside the road which produced an egg. From SK20 we drove to SK50 where elm had been found at 1km level by Matthew Billings and Martin Greenland. After some searching we found a hatched egg in the wooded copse originally found by Matthew although the elm in the cemetary looked far more promising! All in all some good survey work has been completed with thanks to everyone who found the elm! Liz Goodyear and Andrew Middleton

Tuesday 17th February 2009
A very successful day to SO92, SO65 and SO85 with eggs (including old hatched eggs from 2008 and possibly newly hatched) at 1km level in SO92 and SO85 and eventually after a lot of searching an egg at 10km level in SO65. The 1km elm in SO92 found in 2008, is now quite diseased so we were very pleased to find anything - LG/AM

Sunday 15th February 2009
A 5 day visit to the north of England in considerably better weather conditions than forecast produced some very satisfactory results. Eggs were found in Lancashire, Durham and Northumberland. No eggs were found in Cumbria but elm was found in several of the survey targets. However, our feeling is that the majority of these sites in Cumbria and the more upland areas of the central area, will not hold colonies of White-letter Hairstreak but should not be dismissed and must still be monitored. Further visits need to be made to the areas directly on the edge of the species range (non target) to see where the species presently stops. There have been records in 2008 from the Brigsteer area in Cumbria though. Most sites in Scotland have been removed from the project - LG/AM

Tuesday 2nd February 2009
A new link that should be visited....

Tuesday 27th January 2009
A very belated update...........starting with the beginning of December 08. We visited the West Country to try and get a better feel of the elm in the landscape. By looking at the old records, we visited several areas with historic records to see whether elm is still present. We identified some potential areas at project level and outside, that need further visits during the flight period. 3 hatched eggs were found at Porlock, where Diane Andrews had had a sighting in 2007. However, the highlight was in SX46, just to the west of Plymouth, where in the summer of 2008 we were thwarted by bullocks. We sampled for eggs on the 1km elm but found nothing so we went down to the river/estuary edge where we had found some lovely elm last July and found an egg only a few metres outside the 1km target! Our calculations indicate that the egg was found 1.9 miles from the Cornish border which is on the other side of the Tamar. There haven't been any records from Cornwall since the 1980s so this is really exciting and the first record from this particular 10km square.

We didn't do any more survey work until the 20th January, when we visited SU16 just west of Marlborough. The 2km target was going to be hard, it was scrappy roadside elm and hard to view. The nearby Fyfield elm was far too high to sample so we drove around the 10km square and found some good elm on the southern edge of the 10km square and found a hatched egg. We then looked at ST96 and SU08 but couldn't improve the map so we drove home via SP22. We had first visited this target in February 2008, and found very little elm as we drove through. Only one record is known of but from an adjacent 2km square to the target, so we decided to look at the southern part of the 10km square. Driving through Bledington, we saw some roadside elm, and found an egg. As we drove out of the 10km square more elm was found at SP283263 which would be worth visiting in the flight period.

On the 26th January we decided to visit the two 10km squares near Winchester (SU52) and Southampton (SU41). Elm had been found in SU41 at 2km level, but when we returned we found the hedge flailed and most of the elm was gone. Further searching close to Southampton Airport found a elm beside a footpath near Lakeside Country Park and an egg was found. SU52, was also going to be a hard target, with little elm seen on a previous visit. The only elm found had been beside the A31, it was tall and out of reach so a further search to the SW of the 10km square found some roadside elm on the edge of a wood and again an egg was found. Two very successful visits. LG /AM