Spanish Purple Hairstreak

Thank you very much for the clicks and comments on yesterday's Common Blue and especially to myrab for the UA, all are very much appreciated.

This female Spanish Purple Hairstreak was photographed in Spain last year. I went over in June with my good friend Pete Withers and this was one of three Hairstreaks that we were hoping to see. My girlfriend Pilu had told me to expect to see hundreds of Hairstreaks all over the yellow broom bushes and she was not wrong. We really did see hundreds including Spanish Purple, Ilex, and False Ilex as well as many other species busily feeding on the bright yellow flowers. Conditions were windy and this coupled with the fact that the butterflies were constantly moving made photography very difficult. How frustrating to see so many butterflies with very few photo opportunities! However on our last morning we did find this female that sat still long enough for us to bag a few photos. The background colour was provided by a path as she was quite low to the ground.

Brand:	Canon
Camera:	Canon EOS 40D
Lens:	Canon 100mm f2.8 L IS
Recording media:	JPEG (digital)
Date Taken:	21 Jun 2012 - 8:28 AM
Focal Length:	100mm
Aperture:	f/13.0
Shutter Speed:	1/1000sec
Exposure Comp:	-0.375
ISO:	400
Exposure Mode:	Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
Flash:	No Flash
White Balance:	Manual

Title:	Spanish Purple Hairstreak
Username:	NigelKiteley
Uploaded:	29 Jan 2013 - 12:29 PM
Tags:	Butterflies, Close-up / macro, Spanish purple hairstreak, Wildlife / nature
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Votes:	48