A white-letter day

The white-letter hairstreak is a rare butterfly in Sussex but if you find some elms you may be in luck and see one flying around the canopy or a pair of territorial males fighting high above the tree. The caterpillars of this hairstreak feed on elms and as our elms have been lost to Dutch Elm Disease the butterfly has become much rarer. We searched for them last year in Lewes and found them in the elms along Rotten Row and I've seen them before in the town by the hospital and near Willey's Bridge. Usually the view you have is of a few small, dark butterflies fighting in the tree-tops but over the weekend Christine Gibson was lucky enough to find one nectaring in her Lewes garden and sent in this great photo.