Butterflies: Speckled Wood

The speckled wood (Pararge aegeria), bont zandoogje in Dutch, is a butterfly without garish colours mainly found in woodlands. You often find them sitting on the forest floor.

They are well-camouflaged against brown leaves, which serves them well because they are about until well into October. The slightly larger females have brighter colours than the males, which is unusual for butterflies. Easily overlooked, also because they usually sit very still, but well worth having a closer look at because of their pattern:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO200, f8, 1/125s}

Here are two photos of this butterfly showing its camouflage skills:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO160, f5.6, 1/500s}

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO200, f4, 1/125s}

Sun shining through:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 135mm, ISO400, f5.6, 1/320s}

This one has taken possession of a blackberry (I would have gone for the ripe one):

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO200, f8, 1/250s}

They really like to bask in the sun:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO160, f5.6, 1/500s}

Thanks for watching this nice post with nice pics, dear friend!

Previous in series: Swallowtail.