Purple Hairstreak
I think that Purple Hairstreaks are one of Britain's most difficult butterflies to photograph. They are common and widespread enough, but spend most of their time out of reach high in Oak trees. To make matters worse, they spend most of the day just sitting around, becoming active in the evenings and early mornings. They visit flowers occasionally, but standing by a suitable flower patch is no guarantee of photographing one like it is for White-letter, Black and Brown Hairstreaks. My tip for photographing them is to find an area with some small oak saplings, and visit early morning or late evening. I prefer mornings as they seem to bask with wings open more in the mornings to warm up for flight. For the last two mornings I have visited Royd Moor reservoir near Penistone in South Yorkshire, and have managed to photograph several Purple Hairstreaks each day when they occasionally visit oak trees small enough for a close photograph. My other tip is take a long lens rather than a macro as they often perch out of reach, even when they land on small oaks. This female was taken with 420mm of lens basking in yesterday's early morning sunshine (c7am). Females have a patch of bright iridescent purple at the base of the forewing, but it only shines when you get the angle right, and alas I didn't get the angle right on this one. Males have a more extensive purple sheen across all the wings, but it is nowhere near as bright as the females. I have pasted a female showing the full iridescence (like a Cadbury's wrapper) and a male below in the comments for comparison.
Purple Hairstreak
I think that Purple Hairstreaks are one of Britain's most difficult butterflies to photograph. They are common and widespread enough, but spend most of their time out of reach high in Oak trees. To make matters worse, they spend most of the day just sitting around, becoming active in the evenings and early mornings. They visit flowers occasionally, but standing by a suitable flower patch is no guarantee of photographing one like it is for White-letter, Black and Brown Hairstreaks. My tip for photographing them is to find an area with some small oak saplings, and visit early morning or late evening. I prefer mornings as they seem to bask with wings open more in the mornings to warm up for flight. For the last two mornings I have visited Royd Moor reservoir near Penistone in South Yorkshire, and have managed to photograph several Purple Hairstreaks each day when they occasionally visit oak trees small enough for a close photograph. My other tip is take a long lens rather than a macro as they often perch out of reach, even when they land on small oaks. This female was taken with 420mm of lens basking in yesterday's early morning sunshine (c7am). Females have a patch of bright iridescent purple at the base of the forewing, but it only shines when you get the angle right, and alas I didn't get the angle right on this one. Males have a more extensive purple sheen across all the wings, but it is nowhere near as bright as the females. I have pasted a female showing the full iridescence (like a Cadbury's wrapper) and a male below in the comments for comparison.