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Brown Hairstreak in Worcestershire - Bulletin 36

December 2006

Dear Brownhairstreakers,

Doesn't time fly? It only seems five minutes ago that we were out there looking for Brown Hairstreak adults and now the egg hunting season is upon us. Sunday, 17th December is the first official egg hunt day, meeting at 10.00 am outside Grafton Flyford Church. If you haven't had a try at looking for Brown Hairstreak eggs in previous years, then this is your big chance. Do come along and bring your family and friends - full training will be provided - it's great fun. We shall be concentrating on our core area count around Grafton Wood itself and this will be the chance to find out whether the record number of adults seen this year is reflected in large numbers of eggs. We are hoping for a really good turnout.

Some people have already been out there looking for eggs already. After the excitement of an adult sighting on the edge of Trench Wood reported in a previous bulletin, several eggs have been located there in recent weeks. Reserve Manager, Neil McLean managed to find an egg in the central area in early November, while Worcs Wildlife Trust Reserves Officer Steve Proctor was very proud to announce triplets at Trench Wood on 15th. The cluster of three eggs was amongst five discovered by John Hodson and Steve while out flailing ride edges. The possibility of eggs meant that extra care was taken to avoid cutting areas of blackthorn and we will now need to carefully map key areas within the wood as far as future management is concerned. We have already worked on one such area at our November work party where a number of young blackthorn bushes were being swamped by birch seedlings and other vegetation. We have also earmarked 150 new blackthorn whips for planting at Trench Wood over the winter and will be selecting locations where we can hope for maximum advantage. Incidentally, we do still have some blackthorn plants left over for further planting elsewhere in the Forest of Feckenham. If any local champions know of a suitable area please let John Tilt know. He can either bring them along to the next Grafton Wood work party this coming Sunday, 10th December or to the Egg Hunt Day on 17th but please let him know in advance by phoning 01386 792458 or emailing him at John.Tilt2@btopenworld.com .

Another recorder quick out of the blocks has been Trevor Bucknall who has already added 5 new 1km squares to the distribution map: SP0456/0457/0358/0359/0360. These squares are all to the east of the known range and extend the known distribution towards the Warks border. This brings the known number of 1km squares up to 117. Last winter, we more than doubled the known distribution of the Brown Hairstreak and it will be interesting to see what other new squares we can add over the coming months. I will bring the current distribution map with me on 17th so that people can see where the apparent gaps might be. Look forward to seeing everyone. If you can't make 17th then just a reminder that the next egg hunt day is on New Year's Eve. More details in the next ebulletin.

Mike Williams,
Brown Hairstreak Species Champion