Brown Hairstreak. Photo:
James Gould
Brown Hairstreak. Photo: James Gould
James photographed these butterflies at Alners Gorse on 05/08/2017 and says:
A Brown Hairstreak photographed at Alner,s Gorse last week has had a narrow escape. It is a good example of the hairstreak survival strategy at work, ‘the false head illusion’, as described by Adrian Hoskins (Butterflies of the World): ‘A variation of the decoy theme is employed by Hairstreak butterflies. Distinctive patterns of bright stripes direct the eyes of birds towards a target area on their hindwings i.e. eye-marks and antenna-like tails (big photo). The ‘false head’ fools the bird into aiming at the rear of the butterfly (smaller photo).