Black Hairstreak has enjoyed an exceptional 2018 flight season in England, with much larger than usual numbers recorded at traditional sites and more at new locations where small colonies had probably gone undetected previously. In between my two trips abroad during June this was the one local butterfly that commanded my attention. Then I experienced Sloe and Ilex Hairstreaks for the first time in southern Greece, and gained my best ever pictures of White-letter Hairstreak there as well. So I will now take the opportunity to present these four Satyrium hairstreak species in one post.

Black Hairstreak

Sloe Hairstreak

Ilex Hairstreak

White-letter Hairstreak

When 11th dawned sunny I checked the BC UTB sightings page to find all the records while I was in Sardinia had been from Oxon’s Whitecross Green Wood. So that is where the butterfly tourists will have gone in 2018. For myself I headed off to a site further to the north in Bucks that Ewan and I had discovered a year ago and which thankfully is still tourist free. Here a path runs behind roadside Privet that attracts these butterflies from the woodland edge.

A stretch of this hedge had been cut to half height with a flail, serving to let more light into the narrow strip behind where only occasional patches of Privet had been sunlit on that previous visit. In one spot a tallish stand appeared to have been pushed over backwards by the cutting machine and was in full bloom at and just above head height This looked promising and indeed upon it were nectaring three Black Hairstreak.

At once I sensed a picture opportunity par excellence and began to record images using my usual 300mm telephoto lens. But it is well known that when nectaring this butterfly will allow a point blank approach, and so I changed to my macro lens for the first time in quite a while. The outcome was my best ever Black Hairstreak pictures and the communion enjoyed with these rare and precious gems was simply off the top of the scale.

No props, no bait and just inches away

Black Hairstreak

I had to keep reminding myself that inches from my face was one of England’s scarcest and most sought butterflies that enjoys an almost mythical status amongst people who observe them, and I had them all to myself. As on many other occasions I am convinced that insects come to accept human presence so long as they are not harassed or chased around. At one point I was leaning over one BH to take pictures of another and the first butterfly was not in the slightest bit bothered. Even if they did take fright the BH would always come back again to nectar anew.

This observer too was enjoying a similar freedom from jostling and harassment. Every so often I would glance nervously along the path to see if any other person might be approaching, but in around an hour spent with the Hairstreaks I remained gloriously alone. After the previous week in Sardinia being in a group of 15 to seek out scarce insects with very mixed results this day was quite simply how things should be done.

When company did eventually arrive it was in the familiar form of Ewan, who like myself had gone out on the spur of the moment. Between us we must have seen between 20 and 30 BH at this spot, by the roadside and along another path into the woods; and my colleague saw many more after I left. We were both struck by how fresh the butterflies were compared to our visit a year ago, so we had timed things just right. For a fuller account of this species from June 2017 see here.

Two other members of the superficially similar but subtly different Satyrium genus of Hairstreaks were encountered several times during my week in southern Greece, often flying together. On 19th we visited a monastery garden, Aghia Lavra near our base of Kalavrita in the Peloponnese. There both species were active low down amongst the rather unkempt flowers as well as on marginal shrubs. The following pictures are all of these butterflies nectaring on Mint.

Sloe Hairstreak

Sloe Hairstreak

Sloe Hairstreak (pictured above) has larger and rounder red spots than other Satyriae on the underside hind-wing (unh), with internal black triangles on the margin and black edging externally. There are four of these markings limited to the areas around the tail. The thin white line that gives all Hairstreaks their name is usually quite strong and almost straight.

Sloe appeared paler in tone than Ilex Hairstreak (pictured below), in which the white band is better defined and black edged, also extending more faintly across the forewing. The array of red-orange and black spots in Ilex extends around most of the unh. Both these butterflies occur across much of central and southern Europe in June and July, usually in hot and dry scrub habitats in which they are more prone to nectaring openly than their English cousins.

Ilex Hairstreak

Ilex Hairstreak

On 22nd we commenced our exploration of Mount Parnassos that rises above the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth. Driving up we passed through what appeared to be a large winter sports complex that had either fallen foul of the recent crash in the Greek economy, or else the many new houses were city dwellers’ second homes and not occupied in summer. Here there was a large bramble patch known to our group leader as a reliable hot spot for White-letter Hairstreak and this fourth species duly obliged in good numbers.

Why WLH should be present here was something of a mystery since there were no Elm trees anywhere in the vicinity. In England and throughout its range across most of Europe this Hairstreak is always associated with Elm. I had previously observed them mostly in tree tops at home, and close up only at one site in south-east Oxfordshire where I might typically encounter a few worn individuals. This latest experience and the pictures that came out of it were both much better.

White-letter Hairstreak

White-letter Hairstreak

White-letter Hairstreak (pictured above) takes its name from the letter W traced out by the white band on the unh. A further diagnostic is the tails are longer than in the other species described herein. This Hairstreak is probably under recorded in England. Every season records are posted on the BC UTB sightings page from new sites, always where there are Elm trees, and particularly so due to the diligence of the current species champion Peter Cuss. My advice to anyone with an interest is if you know where there are some Elms take a close look and see what you find.

A minor retrospective now. The other two members of the six-strong Satyrium genus are False Ilex and Blue-spot, both of which I self-found on waste ground at Tavira in the Portuguese Algarve in May 2014. False Ilex Hairstreak is very closely related to Ilex but confined in Europe to the Iberian peninsula and far south of France. Blue-spot Hairstreak is distinguished by the feature of its name at the lower unh tip, and is noticeably larger and more triangular than the others. These archive pictures below are for comparison’s sake.

False Ilex Hairstreak

Blue-spot Hairstreak

So now I have observed all six of the Satyrium Hairstreaks. I would say Black Hairstreak is probably the most boldly marked and attractive of the group though all are very similar in terms of their behaviour. This year has been unusual, thanks to travel abroad, in allowing me to experience four of them in such a short space of time and so it seemed appropriate to describe and compare them here. Black Hairstreak are now almost over for 2018 in southern England, but White-letter will be out there for a little while yet before the never ending four-stage cycle of butterfly life begins all over again.

I wasn’t expecting much in the way of butterflies from a week in Sardinia and so was pleased to return home with four new life list and picture collection additions. My favourite for the trip was Corsican Heath because I had been to Corsica itself too late in the season for them last year and so had to find it this time. The species only occurs in the Tyrrhenian islands where it is widespread and locally common, flying from May to August.

I spotted this gorgeous individual pictured below on the island of Asinara from the Land Rover window, and so interrupted our local guide’s history lesson to get out and take some pictures. The attractive, rich brown underside hind-wing ground colour, white discal band and spotting are quite distinct in separating this from other Heath species. This was the only one of it’s kind observed all week.

Corsican Heath

Another endemic I was pleased to record was Corsican Dappled White (pictured below). This species can be confused with the far more widespread and common Western Bath White, from which it is best distinguished by the underside mottling, so I hope I have got this right. Collins lists four different Dappled White species, of which the Tyrrhenian variety produces two broods in very early spring, then from late May through June. Our tour leader was asked why so many Tyrrhenian endemics bear the prefix Corsican. The reason apparently is that Corsican naturalists like to lay claim to things, while their Sardinian counterparts tend to be a more secretive bunch.

Corsican Dappled White

Corsican Dappled White

As in Corsica, the local race of Wall Brown (below, left) was a fairly frequent sight. These (Lasiommata tigellus) are brighter orange with bolder wing bars than the regular and more widespread L megera that occurs throughout Europe. The Tyrrhenian population is accorded full species status by some sources but is not a generally agreed endemic. As familiar throughout the trip were the southern European race of Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria aegeria – below, right) that has an orange ground colour by comparison with the yellow and creamy white northern race (P a tircis) seen in Great Britain.

Wall Brown (local race)

Speckled Wood (southern race)

On to rather more stand-out things now and two much desired lifers. At one site I was pleased to encounter my first ever Large Tortoiseshell, a Nymphalid that has always seemed to be late emerging whenever I have been where it might be found abroad. This large species occurs through most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. Twin broods each season are usually on the wing from May to mid-June, then mid-July to mid-August, hence the ease of missing them in an atypical season. This butterfly disappeared from Great Britain in the 1950s and is now an extreme rarity at home if captive bred releases are ignored.

Large Tortoiseshell

On 6th we visited Su Gologne, a gorge containing natural springs in the Gennargentu mountains of eastern Sardinia. There the most notable sighting was the enigmatic Nettle-tree Butterfly (pictured below), the only member of its family the Libytheinae in Europe. It has some striking physical features, notably a curious pointed snout, gently widening rather than club-shaped antennae and a hump at the top of the hindwing that breaks up the outline. All these contribute to excellent camouflage when settled in dead leaves and other ground litter as the good numbers here were prone to do. This butterfly produces a short-lived summer brood that emerges and egg lays in June, giving rise to a hibernating generation from August. It takes its name from the main larval food plant, the Nettle Tree.

Nettle-tree Butterfly

Nettle-tree Butterfly

Nettle-tree Butterfly

Various colourful but commonplace southern European species also presented good picture opportunities and so I will include a few images here. Cleopatra is often fast flying and not inclined to settle, but this one (below, top) sat up for the camera just above head height for some time, also at Su Gologne. Clouded Yellow (bottom, left) were a frequent sight as everywhere abroad, while the continental European race of Swallowtail (bottom, right) is certain to be a popular draw with groups such as I had joined.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra

A yellow spectrum Mediterranean threesome (above and below)

Clouded Yellow

Continental Swallowtail

Lastly a Two-tailed Pasha came to inspect our picnic lunch on Isla di S Pietro where we went to see the Eleonora’s Falcons on 8th. It was then enticed to stick around with some fruit before re-locating into nearby bushes. For many tour participants this was one of the week’s highlights, but I had enjoyed less contrived communion once before in May 2014 whilst totally alone on a track in the middle of nowhere in the Algarve hills. That sort of experience is difficult to better and so I was a bit more blasé over things on this occasion, but it was still good to be reacquainted with this magnificent insect once again.

Two-tailed Pasha

Other insects

There follows a purely random sample of other insects that caught my eye through the week under review. I paid far less attention to grasshoppers and crickets here than in Corsica (see here), since this trip involved the much higher priority of scarce dragonflies to locate. But a Saddled Bush Cricket (below, left) on Asinara was worth recording, while the green grasshopper species on the right also prompted my attention.

Saddled Bush Cricket

Grasshopper sp

I cannot recall ever having come across either a Stick Insect or Praying Mantis in the wild before, but both (pictured below, top) were amongst the weird and wonderful beasties that came out at dusk around our remote hotel at Su Baione. The gruesome detail I always recall about the latter is that during copulation females are said to eat the male from the head downwards while their mate continues to do the business undeterred from the other end, adding a whole new dimension to the term “ball breaker”. Worth thinking about, that one! These creatures are no wimps.

Stick Insect

Praying Mantis

Ascalaphid sp

Ascalaphid sp

The rather more congenial flying insects that are Ascalaphids (pictured above) are always fun to see and I have encountered them in most places visited in the Mediterranean. There are 15 different European species in this group and many more worldwide. And so this two-part presentation on insects observed during my latest trip in the region is complete.

Having previously done justice to Cyprus, Malta and more recently Corsica it has been a further ambition to similarly explore the Tyrrenhian island of  Sardinia. The last-named has been fortunate in largely escaping the ravages of mass-market tourism and offers a range of interesting habitats for an extensive flora and fauna. The scenery is very varied with mountains and rugged limestone hills, extensive forests, farmland; and extensive coastal wetlands in which birds (see previous post) and particularly odonata thrive.

Dragonflies

Sardinia, the second largest island in the Mediterranean, can host several African dragonfly species that extend into southern Europe mostly here and in parts of the Iberian peninsula. But it soon became clear that some of these must occur in very small numbers and take some searching out. The Naturetrek tour itinerary cited a potential 35 different dragon and damselflies at this time of year, but I actually observed around 20. Most disappointing of all the exotic Green Hooktail and Bladetail, the odo-orientated participants’ top two targets for the trip, were not found.

My dragonfly of the trip was the seriously beautiful Long Skimmer, a large, elongated and powerful species that is common in tropical and north-west Africa and parts of south-west Asia. This was my third most important reason for joining this tour as it was not amongst some northward expanding dragons I had self-found in Portugal in 2014. LS was first recorded there in 1991, where it remains uncommon and highly localised in the south of the country.

Long Skimmer (mature male)

On 4th we visited Lago Baratz in the north-west corner of Sardinia, the island’s only natural fresh-water lake. For me this was the outstanding location of the tour, as the lakeside vegetation simply teemed with dragonflies whose exuvia littered the reed stems. There were thousands of Black-tailed Skimmer here, and fairly abundant amongst those were the highly attractive Long Skimmer (pictured above and below). The males are dark-slate coloured blue with a thin cylindrical abdomen of 38-44mm that is bulbous in segments 1 and 2. In mature males the abdomen can appear almost black, while immature males have an olive-yellow ground colour that turns gradually blue. The pale yellow females were more difficult both to locate and take pictures of.

Long Skimmer (imm male)

Long Skimmer (female)

Male Long Skimmer

Maturing male

Mature male

Mature male

Maturing male

Banded Groundling is another abundant and widespread African dragonfly that has colonised Sardinia and parts of Iberia very locally in recent decades. As the name suggests this species prefers to fly low over and to perch on bare ground where it is nicely camouflaged. They are often found around grazing animals and may even follow humans to catch disturbed smaller insects. The tour itinerary said “hundreds would be flying as we walked along, making the ground appear to shimmer beneath our feet”, which was something of an exaggeration. In the event we found rather more modest numbers first at Lago del Cuga in north-west Sarninia on 5th, then subsequently at various locations further south.

At emergence both genders are yellowish and lack wing-bands that develop gradually in extent and intensity. The male’s body and bands eventually become black, while females become brownish with less distinct brown bands. The twin-coloured cream and brown pterostigma are common to all forms and life stages. I had observed this species once previously in Morocco but had not come across the immature form (below, right) before. As with Long Skimmer, mature females were more difficult to locate and I only gained one poor shot of the latter.

Banded Groundling (mature male)

Banded Groundling (immature)

Two more species self-found before in Portugal and Morocco also featured prominently on this trip. I had been delighted by the highly attractive Violet Dropwing upon first encountering it in the Algarve in 2014, and gained more good quality images this time around. Males are a small, pink and purple dragonfly with striking amber wing bases and veining, while the deep yellow females are similarly pleasing on the eye. Having expanded their range out of Africa since the 1970s, much of the northern Mediterranean margin has now been colonised. They tend to perch prominently and in one place I found male, female and immature individuals on the same shrub for comparison.

Violet Dropwing (male)

Violet Dropwing (male)

Violet Dropwing (female)

Violet Dropwing (female)

Violet Dropwing (maturig male)

Broad Scarlet, also known as Scarlet Darter, was one of the week’s more frequent sightings wherever we went. Once common only in the Mediterranean region, the robust and aggressive, all-red males are becoming recorded ever more frequently further north. This species is also common and widespread throughout Africa and in western Asia. Young males and females are brown-yellow with pale stripes on the thorax and blackish lines on the abdomen. This species often makes a striking picture, but especially so against the resplendent swaying grass-heads of Lago Baratz (below).

Broad Scarlet (above and below)

Broad Scarlet (male)

Broad Scarlet (male)

Broad Scarlet (female)

Broad Scarlet (immature)

Broad Scarlet (male)

As anywhere in the Mediterranean, Red-veined Darter was also encountered fairly regularly. This small red dragonfly is common and widespread across southern Europe and North Africa, though more sporadic further north including Great Britain. I should also mention Southern Darter, a new species for me that is quite difficult to distinguish from the more abundant Common Darter. Our tour leader Nicola Scatassi assured me the individual he is holding in the bottom right picture (below) is one. I can assure anyone who might be opposed to netting insects that none of the specimens he presented to the group in this way were injured. Southern Darter were called from time to time, but I probably paid insufficient attention to that particular lifer on the trip.

Red-veined Darter (male)

Red-veined Darter (female)

Southern Darter

Red-veined, Southern and Common Darters (above and below)

Common Darter (female)

Common Darter (immature)

The dragonfly list for the trip was completed by two medium-sized blue species that are familiar at home: Black-tailed and Keeled Skimmer. The first of those were plentiful in most places we went, while the latter were found first at Su Baione then at other locations in the south of the island. I always find the yellow and black newly emerged BTS especially attractive and photogenic and at Lago Baratz that was no exception.

Black-tailed Skimmer (male)

Black-tailed Skimmer (maturing male)

Black-tailed Skimmer (immature)

Keeled Skimmer (male)

Keeled Skimmer (mating pair)

Damselflies

Fortunately the trip’s damselfly content added a bit more in the new and different sense, with five life list additions. The most satisfying of these were two new Spreadwings, or Emeralds as they are known in Great Britain. The first, Dark Spreadwing is a Sardinia speciality and our tour was timed to coincide with their limited flight season there. This species is also highly localised across southern Europe from the Iberian peninsula to Turkey.

On our first day, 3rd we took a ferry to the island of Asinara off the north-west tip of Sardinia. Once a penal colony in centuries past, this place is now a national nature reserve and several local companies operate 4×4 tours there. It didn’t take long to find Dark Spreadwings that were active at the first brackish habitat we stopped at. I found their two-tone blue head and thorax and generally dark and metallic colouring very attractive, and the notably large and dark pterostigma are quite a striking diagnostic. More were found at a site near Cagliari in the south of the island on 8th.

Dark Spreadwing

I was also pleased to catch up with Migrant Spreadwing on this trip, that in Great Britain is known as Southern Emerald. At home I believe this rather pale-toned damsel has since 2002 occurred only at certain sites in Kent known to local odo royalty, hence my relief at having now observed it abroad. MS has increased dramatically in northern Europe since the mid-1990s, and also occurs eastwards as far as Mongolia. The yellow jowls, wide antehumeral stripes and bi-coloured pterostigma are all diagnostic. The pictures below were taken near Su Baione.

Migrant Spreadwing

or Southern Emerald (BDS name)

The commonest damselfly in Sardinia appeared to be Island Bluetail that we came across almost everywhere we went. This species is closely related to the Common Bluetail that is abundant in Great Britain, but has always a bright green face and thorax and a particularly vivid blue segment 8. IB is endemic to the Tyrrhenian islands, Sicily and Malta where it replaces CB in standing and running waters with rich vegetation.

Island Bluetail

Island Bluetail

Island Bluetail (mating pair)

Two more new (for me) blue damselflies were observed in various places. Dainty Bluet is rather localised throughout southern Europe but is expanding northwards, inhabiting slow-flowing waters with rich vegetation. We first found them on Asinara and only occasionally thereafter. The aptly named Blue-eye is a southern species that can be abundant in the Mediterranean region. The slender males have a diagnostic goblet marking on segment 2 and just look at those big blue eyes. These were seen at a number of locations throughout the trip, often perching horizontally on emergent stakes above the water’s surface.

Dainty Bluet

Dainty Bluet

Blue-eye

Blue-eye

Last but by no means least were the dark, metallic Copper Demoiselle that were observed at a number of sites in central and southern areas. This common larger damselfly occurs only around the western Mediterranean and north-west Africa. Disappointingly all those recorded were of the same blue form that I had seen previously in Portugal, whereas I had been hoping for the beautiful deep copper-red form that gives the species it’s name.

Copper Demoiselle

Copper Demoiselle

The lingering sentiment from this trip, with so few lifers gained is one of anti-climax. Sardinia on this occasion at least was not the dragonfly hunting mecca of its billing. It is said to have been the wettest spring in Italy for many years, which could have had some bearing on the dearth of exotics. I am not so sure of that, although much of the island remains unexplored and under-recorded in odonata terms. The most sought African species might perhaps have been hiding out there somewhere, but I will never know and feel little inclination to return.

I have just returned from a week’s tour of Sardinia with Naturetrek. The itinerary’s main focus was Odonata but I also had three must-see birds for the trip and all of them were found. A fourth life list addition was the endemic Tyrrhenian Flycatcher, that was split as a species from Spotted Flycatcher in 2015.

On 4th we visited Capo Caccia, near Alghero in the north-west of the island. There as the group enthused over what for me are now commonplace Mediterranean birds, I became distracted by lizards at the roadside. That was until I noticed everyone gathered about 100 metres away and clearly observing something of note. I hurried over to find that one of our guides, Luca Boscain had discovered a territorial Marmora’s Warbler which could not have read the script that they are by reputation skulkers offering only glimpses of themselves.

Marmora’s Warbler

This was my top target and now bird of the tour simply because they breed locally only in the Tyrrhenian islands (with a different race in the Balearics), wintering in North Africa. So I do not expect to see another one anytime soon. The species resembles Dartford Warbler in size and shape but has grey not red-brown underparts. They favour dry, scrubby locations, often in low maquis or rocky terrain.

One had been pointed out to me in Corsica last September flitting just once from cover to cover but to my mind it could have been anything, hence my desire to gain proper views this time. And the bird pictured below was quite exceptional in that respect, moving from one to another prominent perch on shrub tops or rocks, singing feistily all the while. To say this sighting exceeded my expectations is an understatement. What a beauty!

Marmora’s Warbler

On 5th and 6th we stayed overnight at Su Baione near Abbasarra in central Sardinia, a remote location in a Cork Oak woodland. From dusk onwards the air around our hotel was filled continuously with the deep whistling calls of Scops Owl, but they were much harder to actually see. This is a small migrant Owl that is a widespread breeder across southern Europe, and also a long-time straggler on my remaining wish-list for the region.

During the first evening’s after dinner walk the group was more interested in locating Nightjar, that were heard distantly and so I was frustrated in my own aim. Returning to my room more Owls could be heard outside the window and so I sat out on the balcony for a while, still without success. Naively I expected to see them flying from tree to tree but they were rather more difficult to pick out than that, as the second evening’s experience demonstrated.

Eurasian Scops Owl courtesy of Luca Boscain

This time the group’s focus was the same as my own and the more experienced amongst us picked out a calling Scops with torches. It took a while to get my eye in then first the bird was seen from behind, dipping its tail with each call at 3-4 second intervals, and next head on from the other side of the tree (pictured above). At all times this Owl kept very close to branches at the centre of the tree, hence my own failed attempts at observation previously.

So that was two down and one to go: Eleonora’s, said to be the scarcest European Falcon. This summer visitor breeds colonially on islands throughout the Mediterranean, wintering in Africa. It owes it’s important lifer status to being absent from my Cyprus list, but I was probably there too early in the season in April 2012 since Eleonora’s postpones breeding until late summer to coincide with return passage of small passerines that are caught over the sea.

Eleonora’s Falcon nesting cliffs on San Pietro island

On 8th we visited San Pietro island off Sardinia’s south-west corner, a long established breeding location for Eleonora’s Falcon. On the walk down to the nesting cliffs (above) I concentrated on scanning the rock faces ahead, seeing a dark, Falcon-shaped silhouette emerge from one of the many crevices and holes. But not having seen an Eleonora’s before I didn’t like to call it. Eventually our guides spotted another one against the sky and so I knew that I had indeed self-found this newest lifer while the group were busying themselves with roadside bugs.

To quote Collins, this is a medium-sized Falcon with long, comparatively narrow wings, long tail and rather slim body. It was clearly still early in their season and there were not many birds present, but those of us who left last had another sighting on the walk back up. It was an immense relief for me to have gained all three required lifers for this trip, especially as we did not find some key dragonfly targets which was very disappointing.

Tyrrhenian Flycatcher

Tyrrhenian Flycatcher (pictured above) was encountered fairly frequently during this tour. It struck me as quite an urban sort of bird, given to hanging around hotels and bars and getting into dubious company such as groups of ageing British wildlife enthusiasts. My own brief researches reveal that prior to 2015 seven sub-species of Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) were recognised across the Palearctic region. Studies of the Sardinian and Corsican breeding population (M. striata tyrrhenicais) over 10 previous years confirmed morphological differences previously observed in the field and cited in scientific literature and hence the latter was split as a full species.

To put things very simply, the paper I am quoting (†) cites the immediate impression given by Tyrrhenian Flycatcher is of a paler bird with warmer tones to the back and more homogeneous underparts. The breast markings, which are generally well defined streaks in Spotted Flycatcher (M. striata striata), appear faded and more spot-like, and the streaking on the nape is also less well defined. My own experiences this week certainly confirm this, but as always I have quoted very basic detail herein.

† Biodiversity Journal, 2015, 6 (1): 271–284. Morphological differences between two subspecies of Spotted Flycatcher, by Michele Viganò and Andrea Corso.