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Living World

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Getting up close and personal with wild nature in Britain and beyond.

Intimate encounters and extraordinary observations of wild nature in Britain and beyond.

The Living World

Living World: Green Hairstreak

Green Hairstreak butterfly

10/08/2014

Green Hairstreak

BBC Radio 4 - Living World, Green Hairstreak

The green hairstreak butterfly is making a comeback in the Pentland Hills.

The green hairstreak is making a comeback in the Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh. Difficult to spot, this beautiful butterfly is now spreading, thanks to good management.

The Living World is a natural history strand that revels in rich encounter, immersion in the natural world and warm, enthusiastic story telling.

The Green Hairstreak butterfly is small, bright green and feisty. The males fight for females, spiralling in the air at break neck speed. This lovely butterfly was not recorded in the Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh, until 20 years ago but now populations are being discovered in more and more places. Sensitive management is helping bring back this bright jewel to the bilberry and heather clad hills. By excluding sheep and letting gorse and bilberry grow together the right conditions now exist. Green Hairstreak only appear on the wing in May and Victor Partridge takes Mary Colwell to see where he first spotted them in the Pentland Hills.

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