Rare locally, but there are a few colonies in Essex and on the Devil's Dyke and Fleam Dyke in Cambridgeshire.
On the Devil's Dyke the strongest colony is where it crosses the Burwell railway cutting. The colony in the dip on Newmarket Heath was thought to have disappeared (in 2012) following loss of some perching bushes due to over-zealous clearing, but a few adults were seen opposite the July Course stands. There is also a colony beside the golf course by tee number 15, where in 2012 they were perching on hawthorn bushes beside the gate to the tee.
There is just one brood per year. It overwinters as a chrysalis with the adults on the wing from early to mid April to early July.
Two of the larval food plants, Bird's Foot Trefoil and Rock Rose grow on the chalky soil at the Devil's Ditch.