Other notes and recollections of interest

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	White-letter Hairstreak before the onset of Dutch Elm Disease by Tim Sizer

White-letter Hairstreak before the onset of Dutch Elm Disease by Tim Sizer

This goes back to late June/early July 1970. I remember because Wimbledon was on at the time.

I lived with my parents in a very rural village called Stocking Pelham which is literally on the Herts/Essex border. We had a large Ash tree in our garden and I distinctly recall a number of mating pairs of WLH's on the smaller lower branches of this tree about 5 feet off the ground. This was late afternoon. At this time, we also had 3 very mature elm trees growing on the periphery of the garden, all sadly, have long since succumbed to Dutch Elm disease. About a mile or so away, within a week or so of the above, I again came across mating pairs, low down, on an Ash tree on the edge of a field, this time it was during the morning. There may of course been several other pairs higher up in the canopy but I couldn't verify this. I don't recall whether Elm was in the vicinity either. Although I have always been interested in butterflies, the fact that I witnessed this twice, led me to assume that it was the insect's food plant and have never really given it much further thought - until 35+ years later! Importantly, I can't recall them laying eggs and can only assume they didn't but this bit of information may be of use to anyone searching for these insects to look in Ash trees that may be growing near elms.

If you or anyone involved has witnessed the same, I'd be interested to hear.

Tim Sizer (Cambridgeshire & Essex Branch)
April 2007