Butterfly on a leaf showing orange underside with darker, white-edged, streak and some of the brown and orange upperwing

Brown Hairstreak

A green butterfly with a small line of white streaks on the underside of its hindwing

Green Hairstreak

Dark butterfly with bright purple patches on its forewings

Purple Hairstreak

Orange butterfly with a lot of dark spots and darker hind wings.

Small Copper

Side view of a butterfly with brown underwings which have a zig-zag white line and orange markings on the edge.

White-letter Hairstreak

Notes

This website only covers butterflies found in Dorset. The Small Copper is the only copper found in the UK. There is one other hairstreak found elsewhere in the UK: the Black Hairstreak.

More info on these families soon…