www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi, am hoping someone out there can confirm (or otherwise) the ident of this butterfly please?

Late August we were down in the Dordogne and had a real treat - many butterflies I've never seen before including two swallowtails.

However, this one we found dead - small children are very good at finding interesting dead things!
Many thanks, Mark.

PS Is it likely we would have seen a number of Queen of Spain down there?

It looks good for woodland grayling to me. The chalky band on the hindwing and the suffused ocellus on the forewing are typical. That said, I don't think there are any constant features that allow identification in every instance (separation from rock grayling, that is). As you have a specimen you can measure it: rock graylings have a forewing length of 33mm or less while in woodland grayling it is 33mm or more.

You would certainly expect to see Queens of Spain there.

Guy

Thanks Guy - I measured from body to wing tip in a straight line - 36mm.

Thanks again, Mark.

Then it's woodland for sure. It's not at all easy to do that in the field...

Guy

...fab - can tick it off on my shiny new iPhone app then!

Cheers, Mark.