Regional Species


Speckled Wood
Pararge aegeria

Photograph by Janet Graham

Regional Species

This is a woodland species, common in many parts of North Wales. The requirement is for open woodland with an ungrazed, or lightly grazed, ground flora; coniferous woods are utilised as well as broad-leaved. The butterfly is only found in the lowlands and an examination of the distribution map, plotted at the tetrad level, clearly shows how the range extends up the major valleys but avoids the higher ground. Over the last century there have been substantial changes in distribution and at some periods the species may have been scarce or absent from North Wales. Population fluctuations have been noted more recently, for example in the summer of 1994 numbers built up and the butterfly became familiar in woods at over 300m near Llanuwchllyn. However, this colonisation was unsuccessful and it has never been seen since.

There are a series of overlapping broods throughout the summer and at any one locality the adult can be seen every day of the year from early April well into October. The eggs are laid on grasses such as Cock’s-foot (Dactylis glomerata) and Yorkshire Fog (Holcus lanatus). The species can overwinter as either a pupa or a larva.

An easy butterfly to identify.