(Linnaeus, 1758)
Speckled Wood
Description:
The Speckled Wood is a typical woodland butterfly. The woods may be deciduous, coniferous or mixed, and the butterfly occurs along woodland rides, in clearings and at wood edges. In the north, it occurs mostly in quite extensive areas of woodland, but in the south a line of trees can be sufficient to support a population. Each male claims his territory on a branch that gets the sun, projecting out of the crown of the tree, and waits there for a female to fly along. The food plants are grasses that grow in woodland and damp grassland, such as fescues (Festuca spp.), false-bromes (Brachypodium spp.), meadow-grasses (Poa spp.), cock's-foot (Dactylus spp.), Purple Moor-grass (Molinea caerulea) and Holcus spp.
The female deposits her eggs singly on the blades of grass. Hibernation takes place as a caterpillar or chrysalis, deep down in a tussock of grass. The Speckled Wood has two to three generations a year.
In the south of its range, the subspecies P. a. aegeria with orange blotches on the dark-brown wings is found, and in the north the subspecies P. a. tircis with paler, creamy blotches. In between there is a range of intermediate forms.
Habitat:
Mixed woodland
Coniferous woodland
Deciduous forests
Similar species:
Unmistakable