Brown Hairstreak egg survey - volunteer surveyors needed!

Brown Hairstreak egg survey - volunteer surveyors needed!

Please get in touch if you’re interested in helping with a survey of Devon’s hedgerows, hunting for the beautiful eggs of the Brown Hairstreak butterfly. Keen eyes and patience required—but it is very rewarding! No experience necessary, full training and instructions can be found on YouTube here. 

If you did want to get out there and start monitoring please email Jess Smallcombe at Devon Wildlife Trust with your postcode and she’ll send you everything you need. Her email address is @email. 

The survey (across target areas of Devon and the Blackdown Hills) aims to detect the presence of eggs at a 1km level and to cover as much of the most likely landscape areas as possible. The survey areas have been selected on the basis of previous records, indicating the presence of suitable habitat in the past, and should be confined to hedgerows along roads, lanes, adjacent to public footpaths or other open access areas, to avoid trespassing.  Volunteers will be allocated one or more 1km grid squares to survey, which will be marked up with dots showing previous records.  If you are interested in reading the full instructions and the survey form then see below - but please contact Jess by email as instructed above to agree where your survey will take place.  We have also included a couple of photos to help you find the eggs on blackthorn.