In recent weeks I’ve been searching, unsuccessfully, for the eggs of Purple and White-letter hairstreak butterflies but … during Sunday’s woodland walk I did find this little beauty, my very first White-letter hairstreak larva. I was over the moon!

As you can see, its camouflage is excellent and I know I wouldn’t have spotted it if I hadn’t been looking so closely at the flower and leaf buds of this Wych elm. I couldn’t find any more larvae but I’ll return soon to this site for another look and, hopefully, will be able to re-find and observe this tiny creature as it grows.