Being the only British butterfly that is green makes the green hairstreak easy to identify but being green it merges with the leaves of the shrubs it rests on and so can be difficult to spot! It is also a small butterfly and quite sedentary spending long periods at rest on shrubbery so it is probably under recorded as far aa the Nature of Dorset database is concerned. They are best observed when they make short flights by watching for where they land and heading for that point. The female is brown rather than green and is even more difficult to find! They are found in shrubby habitats and are particularly fond of heath where they utilise gorse and broom.
They are seen from late April through until the end of June. The reports in the Nature of Database show first sightings from week 16 which is the end of April and ties in with the textbook and there are then reports every week until week 26 which is the end of June, again in line with the textbook. The most reports certainly come in May.
There are survey records from thirty sites of which about a third are heathland; here in Dorset it seems scrub on chalk or limestone is preferred and bird's-foot trefoil and common rockrose are included amongst their preferred food plants. Ballard Down, Bindon Hill and Giant Hill seem to have good colonies present.
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