Purple Hairstreak Quercusia quercus
The hair streaks also belongs to the family of blues. These are small butterflies, often greyish or blueish and with a clear tip or hook on the lower wing. There should be lots of Purple Hairstreaks in our garden, but one hardly ever sees them. They usually live up between the tops of Oak Trees and seldom fly near the ground. They favour the sweet excretions from aphids over flowers. Sometimes however a garden with colourful and smelling flowers is irresistable, even for a Purple Hairstreak... The wingspan is some 33 mm at most. Purple Hairstreaks are very common butterflies all over Europe, including most of the British Isles.
