Callophrys rubi
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The green hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. The genus name Callophrys is a Greek word meaning "beautiful eyebrows", while the species Latin name rubi derives from Rubus (bramble), one of the host plants.
Callophrys rubi sibirica (Rühl, 1895) Tien-Shan, Altai, Siberia, Transbaikalia, Far East, Amur (Outer Manchuria), Ussuri and Sakhalin. Callophrys rubi has a wingspan reaching about 26–30 millimetres (1.0–1.2 in) in length. The oversides of the wings are a uniform dull brown, with two paler patches on the male's forewings made up of scent scales. The undersides are a bright green with a thin white line, often reduced to a faint row of dots or even missing altogether. The iridescent green colour of the undersides is a structural colour caused by diffraction and interference of light by microscopic repeating structures forming a diffraction grating in the wing scales. The... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 4 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 6 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 12 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 13 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 14 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 15 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 16 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 2 | Stockholm | 🇸🇪 Sweden | |
| 3 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 6 | Rome | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 7 | Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 9 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 10 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Green Hairstreak sighting in London on a given day, based on 107 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 286th most-seen of the 1504 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Green Hairstreak in London on a given day, against under 5% in July to March, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Green Hairstreak sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Green Hairstreak sightings, London ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Helsinki (Finland, about 10%) and Stockholm (Sweden, about 10%).
Same family: Lycaenidae
The closest relatives of the Green Hairstreak that you can see in London (family Lycaenidae, Gossamer-winged Butterflies) are Holly Blue (about 30%), Small Copper (about 20%) and Common Blue (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Green Hairstreak is recorded against all the insects logged in London (107 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
