By the time I fetched my camera it'd gone.

It stayed on the ground for a few minutes and displayed speckled orange
wings.

Can anyone identify it?

John Burke wrote:

> By the time I fetched my camera it'd gone.
>
> It stayed on the ground for a few minutes and displayed speckled orange
> wings.
>
> Can anyone identify it?

Likeliest thing is a Speckled Wood butterfly. It is usually a woodland
butterfly but it does occur in gardens.

The caterpillars eat grasses.
Here is a picture.

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/species/bdata/speckled _wood.html

Neil Jones
Neil [at] nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.butterflyguy.com/

"John Burke" <dacre80 [at] yahoo.co.uk> wrote
> By the time I fetched my camera it'd gone.
>
> It stayed on the ground for a few minutes and displayed speckled
> orange wings.
>
> Can anyone identify it?

A Comma perhaps?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_(butterfly)

--
Sue