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Field Notes

Valais, Switzerland, April 2004

Valais, Switzerland, April 2004

Basking on a hot rock.

Valais, Switzerland, April 2004

Basking on a hot rock.

Peter Rowlings

Cambridgeshire, UK, August 1995

This is one of the UK's best known butterflies. And at last I have photographs of it and my father has donated a photo too. It is common in gardens and to a lesser extent in the countryside. It is attracted strongly to garden flowers which brings its unique and unmistakable rich colours and eyespots to the attention of even the most nature-blind people. It is widespread elsewhere in Europe although I rarely encounter it in Mediterranean regions. It is absent from southern Spain and north Africa.

It is flies in late summer before hibernating in September/ October then is one of the first butterflies to be seen the following spring. The underside markings are dull black in complete contrast to the bright upperside. In winter it can be found hanging upside down in outhouses, garages and other cool dark places in buildings. Here is often shares its hibernation sites with the Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae.

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