The Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria

The Speckled Wood is one of our fairly common butterflies and can usually be seen close to tall hedges. It is much more common in the rides of larger woods. On a walk through Monk's Wood or Brampton Wood in June 2011 twenty to thirty butterflies could be seen.

The larval food plants are various common grasses.

Speckled Woods generally over-winter as larvae or as pupae, emerging in spring to produce two or three broods in the season. On a Winterwatch BBC programme in January 2022, an adult Speckled Wood was shown with the comment from Chris Packham that they over-winter as adults. Perhaps this was merely an individual with an unusually long life.
The first to emerge are those which have over-wintered as chrysalises and they can have larger areas of pale colour.

On bright days they can be seen basking or flitting about when it is still too cool or windy for other butterflies.

In early to mid August I often see an adult near my plum tree, sometimes on the ground feeding from fallen fruit. On bright early September mornings it is a treat at around 10.00 am to see the Speckled Woods in the paddock. Where the sun catches the sheltered, south facing bays in the hedge they can be seen spaced apart in their separate territories taking short flights or basking on the foliage. There are fewer to be seen later in the day.

Weather notes:
2011. July - early August very wet.
2012. April - mid July very wet. August to mid September dry.
2013. Winter wet, March and early April, very cold. The rest of the spring was mostly cold. July, mostly very warm. August, warm.
2014. Winter very wet, mild. Spring was early, colder in mid April. Summer to early August, warm without a drought.
2015. Winter normal, March, April - May mostly cold. Sallow flowers opened on March 28 - 29th. Summer, fairly normal.
2016. Winter normal. Sallow flowers opened on April 2 - 3rd. Spring mostly cool and breezy. For a few weeks in late spring there was heavy rainfall and saturated soil and vegetation. Late summer with hot, dry periods.
2017. Winter mildish, hardly any frost. Sallow flowers opened on March 14 - 15th. Warm spells in March. April mostly dry and chilly. First Creeping Thistle flowers open on June 13th, followed by about 7 days of heat wave. Early July was very warm, excellent for counting butterflies. Late summer, autumn normal.
2018. Winter normal with a few days of settled snow. Sallow flowers open on March 26th. March, April mostly cold and wet, May warm. June 11, Bramble flowers opening to greet first Large Skippers. Mid June to early August, very hot and dry. Autumn mostly dry.
2019. Winter normal. Hardly any frost. Sallow flowers seen on March 10th. Spring mostly cool apart from Easter heatwave. May 31, Bramble flowers starting to open. June 1, Buckthorn in full bloom. Dryish summer with some heatwaves.
2020. Mildish winter. Sallow flowers open March 10th. Spring mostly cool. Several warm days in early April and through May. May 28 Bramble flowers opening. Record dry May. June nectar sources mostly Buttercups in the unmown paths, and Brambles.
2021.Winter normal. Very wet, early spring then cold. Sallow flowers opened on March 23rd. Summer with a few hot spells and moderate rain.
2022. Winter, normal. Sallow flowers open on March 18th. Bramble flowers open May 28. Summer, mostly very dry with long hot spells.
2023. Winter normal, some frost. Feb very dry, March very wet. Sallow flowers open on March 21st. Cold wet spring followed by hottest May on record, warm June and wet July. Autumn, mild and wet.
2024. Winter mild and wet. Feb very wet. Sallow flowers open on March 13th.