Extra Small Copper

[jenny1]

Beare with me, I'm new to this
I've come across a few Small Coppers this year, but this morning I came across one that was only about 2/3rds the size of the others and the colouring was extra intense. Is this normal?
This is one from the weekend


This is todays. (A woman came and disturbed us, so not a good picture)

[MikeOxon]

Small Coppers are very variable in appearance. Emmet/Heath quote a wingspan range of 26 - 36 mm, which is a considerable range. I guess it depends on food availability at the caterpillar stage.

Your first photo is an example of the aberration caeruleopunctata - you can see that there are small blue dots just inside the orange band on the hind wings. It's a pity you were distracted for the second photo as it looks to be a very nice newly-emerged specimen. The colour tends to fade with age but, as there are three (sometimes four) broods each year, there is always a chance of finding fresh specimens. I took the following photo in September 2008 on a fence at the RSPB reserve on Otmoor, Oxon., and it is the most brightly-coloured that I have seen.

Otmoor, Oxon - 21st September 2008

Mike

[David M]

Small Coppers are notoriously variable. Mike's example is unusually bright - the ones I saw in France were at the opposite end of the scale, more bronze than copper.

[jenny1]

Thank you.
A little earlier in the year I also saw a Marbled White which was only half sized. There were many others around of normal size, so I wonder what dictated why this one was tiny!