The only true Green European Butterflies.

The Green Hairstreaks Callophrys rubi and the much rarer Callophrys avis are said to be our only true green European butterflies. Species such as Orange-tips and some of the Whites appear to exhibit a green colour but theirs is a illusion created by an intricate mixture of black and yellow scales while the lepidopterist Jeremy Thomas writes that in the Green Hairstreak the underside colour is " the refraction of light through a microscopic lattice of closely-packed cubes within each scale, producing a diffraction grating with peak reflectance at 0.55u, which at any angle and in the dimmest light appear green". It is interesting that C. rubi has one of the widest geographical ranges of any European butterfly and that the larvae utilizes one of the widest range of foodplants while the very local C. avis found in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and Mediterranean France feeds only on the Strawberry Tree. Early Entomologists that collected C. rubi seemed to know only one foodplant Rubi [ bramble ] Species, hence the latter part of its latin name. In the spring C. rubi is a delight to watch, although small it is a very beautiful butterfly, especially when fresh, the undersides are like a velvet-green. This year I have managed to find several good colonies and observe the butterfly habits. Colonies are often found in open grassland with plenty of scrub. The males are very territorial and when not feeding sit on a favourite perch and jink off at high speed to chase any other insect and any passing female. When two males meet they will often spiral high in the air before returning to exactly the same perch. The following are some photographs that I have taken while studying the Green Hairstreak this year.
On watch on one of its foodplants gorse.

Resting on another foodplant bramble.

Well camouflaged on hawthorn bush.

Feeding at buttercup.
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ab punctata, White streaks on forewing. Resting on heather yet another foodplant, taken in Scotland.