Ringlet Butterfly

Ringlet Butterfly - notes.

.....This species is rather sombre-looking, being a sooty-brown although when fresh can be nearly black, older specimens are often somewhat bedragled and a little paler. On the female fore wings, there are one or more black spots with pale rings, which are often absent in the males. The white-pupilled eye-spots on the undersides of both sexes are very conspicuous but there is considerable variation in both the number and size of spots. On the wing during July and August, it is a restless butterfly taking frequent short flights. There is one generation per year, the young larva feeding only at night on grasses such as Couch until October, then following a partial hibernation over the winter months when it only feeds during mild spells, it commences to feed again in earnest from March until June. The larval stage lasts nearly 10 months, whereas the pupa found on the ground among grass roots, hatch in about 2 weeks.