Another day, another letter, more butterflies but this has been a great year for hairstreak butterflies. The first highlight was finding my first ever Purple hairstreak larva at the end of May. I spotted it on two subsequent visits before it disappeared, hopefully to pupate.

I only saw one Purple hairstreak butterfly in that woodland – in a different area so probably not the metamorphosed larva – but did see the butterflies at two other local sites.

And, though I was delighted with my Purple hairstreak sightings this year, I was even more thrilled by the many White-letter hairstreaks I saw. This comes partly from learning to recognise and remember where the Wych elms grow in my local area but also partly from luck – my best sighting of the year, my white-letter day, was simply a case of being in the right place at the right time.