(Borkhausen, 1788)
Chestnut Heath
Description:
The Chestnut Heath inhabits dry to damp grasslands in woods, meadows, poor grassland, calcareous grasslands, and open marshy habitats. These grasslands are sometimes quite intensively grazed, as can happen on calcareous grassland. However, if grazing is absent, for a few years, change in the grassland does not seem to affect the butterflies. The butterflies do not fly very much, and only cover limited distances.
The eggs are laid one by one in short rows on the blades of grasses, such as fescues (Festuca spp.), Tor-grass (Brachypodium pinnatum), Purple Moor-grass (Molinea caerulea), Upright Brome (Bromus erectus), and Crested Dog's-tail (Cynosurus cristatus). Pupation takes place deep down in the vegetation.
The Chestnut Heath has one generation a year.
In the field the Chestnut Heath is often confused with the Small Heath (C. pamphilus), and therefore not noticed. On the Iberian Peninsula, there is a subspecies C. g. iphioides, with brightly contrasting eyespots on the underside of the hindwing.
Habitat:
Dry calcareous grasslands
Mixed woodland
Mesophile grasslands
Humid grasslands
Similar species:
Coenonympha tullia
Coenonympha pamphilus