(Linnaeus, 1758)
Grayling
Description:
The Grayling is found in dry, infertile surroundings, occurring on poor, dry grasslands, dry heaths, and also often at the coast. The males and females meet each other above a solitary tree in a wide open landscape, such as a pine on heathland.
The female lays her eggs on various fine-leaved grasses, including fescues (Festuca spp.), bents (Agrostis spp.), and bromes (Bromus spp.). Walking over the bare ground, she approaches a grass tussock, and deposits an egg on a withered grass blade a few centimetres above the ground.
The caterpillar grows very slowly, feeding mostly at night. It hibernates deep down in a grass tussock. When it is ready to pupate, it spins itself a sort of cocoon in a little hollow in the ground.
The Grayling has one brood a year.
Habitat:
Dry siliceous grasslands
Dry calcareous grasslands
Coastal sand-dunes
Heath and shrub
Coniferous woodland
Similar species:
Pseudochazara hippolyte
Hipparchia christenseni