Coppers and Hairstreaks

Caterpillars of several of the Hairstreak butterflies prefer the leaves and buds of trees to those of wildflowers.
​The adults in their turn prefer aphid honeydew to nectar.

THE COPPERS
The Small Copper is one of our most common butterflies. It helps that its favorite foodplants, COMMON SORREL AND SHEEP'S SORREL have adapted well to human habitation and are still abundant over most of the country. The Large Copper in contrast is extinct in Britain with some attempts having been made to re-introduce it from Holland. Adult Small Coppers drink nectar from a variety of wildflowers.

THE HAIRSTREAKS
In contrast, all of the closely related Hairstreaks native to Britain obtain their sugary fuel, not from nectar-rich flowers but from aphid honeydew. That's the sticky stuff that appears on the roof of a car when it's parked for a few hours under a soft-leaved tree like a maple in spring. The sap of the fresh leaves and buds on which aphids feed is very high in sugars and low in amino acids, so to redress the balance they eliminate most of the sugar. 

Female hairstreaks lay their eggs on the branches of trees, the kind of tree chosen depending on the kind of hairstreak. Trees growing in sunny, sheltered locations are usually preferred. The eggs remain on the branches over winter, the caterpillars waiting until spring to emerge, once the buds and leaves are available for them to eat. An exception is the Green Hairstreak which follows the more common butterfly strategy of hibernating as a chrysalis.

SMALL COPPER
Inachis io

The Small Copper is one of our most common butterflies. It's also one of the friendliest and can easily be persuaded to hop onto a hand placed gently in front of it.

As well as sucking up sweat from your hands and fluid from a pebbly path, adult coppers will take nectar from a variety of flowers. 

It helps that its caterpillar's favourite foodplants, COMMON SORREL and SHEEP'S SORREL have adapted well to human habitation and are still abundant over most of the country. 

WHITE-LETTER HAIRSTREAK
Strymonidia-w-album

The female White-letter Hairstreak lays her eggs on the bark of ELM trees where they spend the winter. On emerging in spring, the caterpillars feed on the inner part of the ELM FLOWERBUDS, then on leaf buds and finally on fully expanded leaves.

Adults drink honeydew. Its numbers declined dramatically following Dutch Elm Disease but it it still present over much of England feeding on Wych Elm, which was less affected than some elms.

PURPLE HAIRSTREAK
Favorius quercus

The Purple Hairstreak lays her eggs singly on the LEAF BUDS of OAK TREES.
There they remain until the spring.

The emerging caterpillar - brown and woodlouse shaped - spins  a silk web around a clump of oak leaves in which it hides by day, coming out at night to browse on them. 

The Purple Hairstreak
is widely distributed in woodland colonies throughout Wales, the southern half of England and Ireland. But as it tends to spend most of its time at the top of trees feeding on honeydew it's rarely seen.

GREEN HAIRSTREAK
Callophrys rubi

The Green Hairstreak is our most widely distributed Hairstreak and the one we can all aspire to creating a habitat for as it occurs throughout Britain and Ireland, and feeds on plants we can easily grow.

The caterpillars - green with yellow markings - are more adventurous in their eating habits than the other hairstreaks, accepting BILBERRY, GORSE, ROCKROSE. BIRD-FOOT TREFOIL, DYER'S GREENWOOD, DOGWOOD, and BUCKTHORN.

This species hibernates as a chrysalis, which are sometimes found in ants nests. It produces a sticky secretion attractive to ants and a squeaking sound which also attracts them.

BLACK HAIRSTREAK (Strymonidia pruni) and BROWN HAIRSTREAK (Thecla betulae)
The caterpillars of both species have a similar taste in buds and leaves, The females lay their eggs either singly or as a pair on the stems of BLACKTHORN, and sometimes WILD PLUM. After overwintering as an egg, on emerging in spring, they browse on the flower buds and then the leaves.

The Black Hairstreak has a very limited range, its main breeding grounds consisting of a number of woods between Peterborough and Oxford.  Its reluctance to fly very far away from its home territory is a major obstacle to it colonising new areas, despite habitats that are apparently suitable being available elsewhere. Although they lay their eggs on Blackthorn, the adults spend most of their time high up on Field Maple and Ash trees, where they feed on the aphid honeydew. The caterpillars change colour as they grow from deep chestnut to a patterned light green to blend in with the foliage. The chrysalis resembles a bird dropping.

The range of the Brown Hairstreak is somewhat wider. It is found in the Burren in Ireland, south west Wales and southern counties of England. The caterpillars are pale green with yellow stripes and well camouflaged against Blackthorn leaves. Adults live in small woodland colonies feeding on honeydew.

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Open sunny woodland rather than wildflower meadows is the preferred habitat of the Hairstreak Butterflies, but being high flyers among the trees feeding on aphid honeydew they are difficult to spot and photograph.