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Pararge aegeria
The Speckled Wood is a common butterfly and familiar to many observers, especially in woodland where, as its name suggests, it is most often found. The appearance of this butterfly changes from north to south, forming a "cline", where individuals in the north are dark brown with white spots, with those in more southerly locations being dark brown with orange spots. This has given rise to a number of subspecies.
As its names suggests, this butterfly is primarily found in woodland, but can be found anywhere there is sufficient scrub to provide the shaded conditions that this butterfly favours which includes gardens and hedgerows. These two that looked like male and female were found in a back garden that comprised of laurel bush, a small sycamore and a couple of Mountain Ash and Rhodedendron
This was taken on one of the hottest days thus far in South Wales in 2015. The two were seen flying together in what could only be described as a mating ritual before landing on the leaves