Speckled Wood ab. saturatior

[Phil Bowler]

On 23.8.21 at Chambers Farm Wood NNR in Lincolnshire I came across this female Speckled Wood displaying a very extreme example of what I believe to be ab. saturatior, almost deplete of markings. Fortunately Pete Smith and friend happened to be passing by, so I was not alone in witnessing this rare spectacle.

ab. saturatior upperside

ab. saturatior underside

Apart from the obvious size difference and manner of flight, it reminded me of the similarly unmarked White Admiral aberration I had witnessed in these same woods back in July, ab. obliterae.

White Admiral ab. obliterae

[David M]

Without doubt the most amazing Speckled Wood I've ever seen.

[petesmith]

I still keep looking at my photos as well! It was such an extreme deviation from the normal pattern as to appear like a completely different new species. Even the Natural History Museum doesn't have an example quite as dramatic as this one - see https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/collecti ... a11e68f68e