Just over a week after my first white-letter hairstreak I have now seen my first purple hairstreaks (Neozephyrus quercus). I was walking through an oak wood with my nephews Joel and Sam when Joel's sharp eyes spotted a butterfly. As it flew off we saw a flash of purple and a few moments later Joel found another one. It is was fairly worn female, with a patch of purple on each front wing as it catches the light.
The purple hairstreak is a fairly small butterfly, about the size of my thumbnail.
Then this morning I found another one, this time in Gosforth Park Nature Reserve. This was a male and he was a bit reluctant to open his wings. When he did they looked brown in most lights, but as he turned you can see the purple colour extends to the edge.
And this afternoon another one in the same spot, this time a female. Although purple hairstreaks live on oak trees this one had hopped onto an adjacent elm.
Purple hairstreaks spend most of their time in the tops of oak trees. They live on honeydew and rarely come down to look for flowers so I feel very privileged to have seen these three.
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