The Colour Purple

Purple Hairstreak - a much anticipated addition to the Sustead butterfly list

Yesterday, whilst doing some work on the Melton Constable bridge project - more on that story latter, I noticed several large dragonflies over the winter scrape at Sustead Common. After I'd finished putting my tools away I went looking for them. Turns out that there were two species Southern & Brown Hawker. I approached an Oak tree on The Allotment side of the Common, to see if I could get some shots of a resting Brown Hawker. Unfortunately it flew off before I could find it, but my eye was caught by a fluttering dark and silvery butterfly in the same tree - turned out to be a Purple Hairstreak. New for the site and the second really good butterfly at Sustead in less than a week!