Th.betulae (Brown Hairstreak) : Mapping by searching for eggs in the winter

[Walter Schön]

Hi all,

let me tell you about my experience with Thecla betulae (Brown Hairstreak)
in my region (South-Germany, near Lake Constance). It might help you mapping
this species in your region as well !

The Brown Hairstreak seemed to me to be a quite rare species - yearly I
could record just 1 to 4 specimen !

Since I habe been looking for the eggs (mostly at blackthorn, Prunus
spinosa) during the winter (November to April) I found theese eggs
everywhere and in short time. So Thecla betulae proved to be a wide-spread
species here in my region !

You can get detailed information  (with pictures, maps, ....)  about my
searching through my German Butterfly-homepage  ( of course some pages in
English !) :

http://www.schmetterling-raupe.de

Choose   "Schmetterlinge   -  Some pages in English  -   Brown Hairstreak"

I'm very interested in the occurrence of the Brown Hairstreak  everywhere !

In the same way you can map Quercusia (Neozephyrus) quercus - the Purple
Hairstreak !

Thank you for your interest  and - maybe - your informations !

Walter

Walter.Schoen at t-online.de