A-Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'H'

H - Green Hairstreak; Large Heath

If you are almost bald like me colouring you hair will not improve matters. However for one butterfly with dull brown upper wings - 

Hairstreak

it's amazing what a dash of colour does to its appearance.

Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)

when the underside is a bright green. This specimen may be misshapen but there is no mistaking the colour that gives it its name 

It never rests with its wings open in order to maintain that green camouflage.

Green Hairstreak on rough grassland

The Green Hairstreak has a wide range of food plants including bramble, rock rose, gorse and broom. Its habitats are equally wide - chalk downland, heathland, moorland, woods and even wetlands

The Large Heath butteflies always have their wings closed when at rest

Large Heath butterfly (Coenonympha tullia)

The males are smoky orange in colour. The pale brown underside has a creamy white band and a number of eyespots. Sometimes know as the Common Ringlet the number of spots varies from colony to colony.

You will need waterproof footwear when looking for the Large Heath in the North of the British Isles - it's unique in that it is more or less confined to boggy areas.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside

Photo attributions:

• Green Hairstreak - upper wings; up-loaded to CC by Lymantria - free use
• Green Hairstreak: Ryton Meaodows 27 May 2012 - upload by Amamda44, by Mike Darlow - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Green Hairstreak on rough grassland: 2 May 2004, by Dave Dunford - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Large Heath; Methop Moss, 27 June 2014, by Steve Childs (Flickr) - CC BY 2.0