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Hello and my first message on this forum.
WE have a lot of Speckled Wood butterflies in our garden and generally they are quite pale but we have one which appears regularly and loves the white UPVC of the conservatory. I have been reading through info here and can I ask if this one is an aberration or is that quite normal? Thanks. Mark.

There are plenty of 'dark' Speckled Woods, Mark, but your specimen has unusual ocelli on the hindwing submargins, which are larger than normal and 'individually wrapped' in circular-shaped cream patches.

I'm not sure if it qualifies for aberrant status - it'd be nice to see the full hindwings to see if there are any cream-coloured markings near the upper-wing edge.

Maybe the photo might was taken in a fully automatic mode, so brightness range is 'averaged'.  Hence, against the very pale background, the camera would have made the butterfly appear extremely dark to achieve the right 'overall average'.

Jack