White letter Hairstreak, thanks Neil, Even Better!!

 Thanks to Neil Hagley's eagle eyes my Purple HS is in fact a White Letter Hairstreak. He saw my photos  and was able to put me right.

 I had presumed that it would be a Purple HS as I have seen them locally. Lesson learnt, look more closely and presume nothing! My excuse is that it was heavily worn, but you can see the row of orange crescents on the edge of the hind wing.

This lower image does show the remains of the W on the hind wing. Interestingly there is some Sucker Elm on the Rough. Best of all it is a Butterfly tick for Paula and takes her to 51 Species. Great to get a new species in the back garden!

Purple Hairstreak on Meadow.

 I was carrying out a butterfly survey on the meadow behind our house, when I found this Purple Hairstreak. It was slightly damaged and feeding on Ragwort.

 Normally this species is rather difficult to observe, preferring the tops of Oak trees.

 I have recorded this species around the reservoir before, but it was nice to find one virtually in the back garden and at eye-level! It brought my garden and Rough butterfly species list to 25. This is approximately 43% of the butterfly species that breed in Britain.
Birds of note on Friday included a Peregrine that was mobbing 3 Herring gulls and a fly through Hobby. Today 4 Ravens flew over, perhaps a family group and indicating local breeding success.