www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I saved a pupae from a old watering can that had an inch or so of water in it and the pupae was drowining. I was going to take a pic of it, but decided not to bother. It was mottled greyish with sort of greyish speckles. I had no idea what it was, never saw it before.

It hatched today into a small tortoiseshell. How can that be? I never seen a small tortoiseshell pupae that colour. It did not have shiny marks or whatever. Could it be the water that did it?