White-letter Hairstreak Recording Project

Welcome to the home page of the White-letter Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album) Recording Project

The White-letter Hairstreak butterfly is a Priority Species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plans, due to population declines picked up by the British Monitoring Scheme (BMS). However, this is a small and somewhat elusive arboreal species that can be quite difficult to monitor effectively when using the standard transect recording method.

The experience of some recorders is that the White-letter Hairstreak is often more common than is generally appreciated, and it is hoped that this project will confirm whether this distribution and population strength is repeated across the species' range.

Given an adequate level of targetted surveying for both elms and White-letter Hairstreaks in a number of random sample areas, the project aims to provide enough information to create a reasonable model for estimating the likely spatial distribution and occurrence of White-letter Hairstreaks at a landscape level. The project also hopes to establish the likely present range of the species, and to what degree elms may be used as a proxy for White-letter Hairstreak distribution.

We would like the project to enthuse observers from all parts of the country, whether you are a White-letter Hairstreak expert or not, and that participation will be enjoyable, rewarding and widespread. To find out more click here................

The project is now in its final weeks although we still have about three weeks left! Thank you to everyone that has contributed, your help with this project is really appreciated. We hope to have some interim results available on this website in the spring of 2010!