Speckled Wood Butterfly

The speckled wood butterfly or Pararge aegeria is commonly found across Europe, North Africa, Northern Asia and Russia. Its markings feature patterns of spots of a lighter yellow, white or orange on darker brown wings. The females have more disntinctive markings than the males. Unsurprisingly, the speckled woods’ habitat is mostly woodland, though it can be found in surrounding grasslands, urban parks and gardens.

These butterflies are very territorial and males will often fight each other over females. The male speckled wood butterflies are polygnous – they mate many times during their lifetimes. The female, however, will only mate once during her lifetime. As a result of this females are in very high demand and males get very territorial when they find a female in an area. They will fight any other males who get close; the winner getting the rare prize of a one-time copulation with the female.