C. White-letter Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album)

The White-letter Hairstreak is a small, dark butterfly, considered to be uncommon, even rare. Sightings of it therefore cause some excitement. Its presence in the Cemetery was suspected by Michael Blencowe, co-author with Neil Hulme of The Butterflies of Sussex: a twenty-first century atlas, the authoritative guide to the butterflies of our county. Michael suspected these butterflies would be in the Cemetery as he had noticed on a previous visit a stand of some English Elms that had not started to show signs of infection from Dutch Elm Disease.

The WLT is tricky to see as it feeds off honeydew high in the canopy of Elms and rarely comes down lower to be close enough to photograph. However, as with many species, their behaviour is relative predictable and, in this case, the WLT is almost certain to start moving between 9:30 and 10:30 in the morning between mid-June and mid-August, the more so when the sun shines. Pairs of males will suddenly launch themselves vertically from the leaf canopy of Elms, partaking in a serious 'dog fight' with each other, until a few seconds later they veer off sideways and circle back into the shelter of the tree's leaves. The speed with which this happens is astonishing - and diagnostic. No other small British butterfly behaves like this above Elm trees.

The butterfly's elusive nature means that one can rarely see close-up that there is a delicate, white W-shaped line on the underside of its hindwing, giving rise to its naming in both English and Latin. It is otherwise brown with a zig-zag reddish-orange band on the hindwing's outer margin.

On the morning of 28th June 2022, Michael led a small group of volunteers to look for the White-letter Hairstreak and during a happy hour several of these dog fights were observed. The importance of maintaining a small stand of Elm trees in good condition was therefore made abundantly clear!

A detailed account of this butterfly is given on the website of the Sussex branch of Butterfly Conservation.