In The Countryside: It may be January, but Pam Taylor gets a tiny glimpse of a new springtime generation.

On the first Sunday of this month I joined the annual New Year walk with other members of the local broadland branch of Norfolk Wildlife Trust. I'd booked my place many weeks before and thankfully this year the day in question was cold, but bright. Last year we'd finished the walk in torrential rain, but the clouds stayed away this time.

We started as usual at Potter Heigham church and then walked through to Weaver's Way along the southern side of Hickling Broad. Being an organised walk, we had permission to visit the tree tower and the views from the top were glorious. Off to our right a large herd of red deer could be seen grazing on the marshes towards the coast. To our left we could see to the iconic Happisburgh lighthouse and beyond.

The best sighting though was on our descent from the top of the tower. As we reached the level of the tree canopy we searched carefully through the clusters of oak twigs until we found a tiny white spot nestled deep between the buds. It was the egg of a purple hairstreak butterfly. When magnified we could see it was covered in tiny spikes and had a dimple in the top. To me it looked just like a tiny sea urchin.

This tiny egg and others like it will have been laid sometime last July or August and they will remain on the tree until the spring. Caterpillars then feed on the oaks between mid-March and late May before pupating. Adults are on the wing from the end of June. Males are difficult to see because they stay around the tree canopy, but females descend a little lower to lay their eggs.

High platforms like the tree tower provide excellent viewing points at the right time of year. Last summer I was lucky enough to see a few adult purple hairstreaks perched below me from this vantage point. The male butterflies have a lovely purple sheen over their otherwise brown wings and even the females have a purple mark on the top side of their forewings. In both sexes the undersides of the wings are grey with a white streak, hence the family name of hairstreak.