Question regarding odd Butterfly behaviour.

[Beekeeper]

The year before last, i was out in the woods near to my home and came across a number of Silver Washed Fritillary feeding on Blackberry flower, nothing unusual about that but just after taking a few pictures i turned to see one flying slowly at head height across the river, circling this butterfly was a much smaller species, possibly brown in colour which is all i can say about that due to being in flight, it was not circling side to side but nose to tail making loops around one foot in diameter around the Fritillary, this continued until they were both out of sight.

Never before i have seen anything like this and have no idea what was happening there, can anyone shed any light on this please.

BK

[harasseddad]

At a guess it was a territorial male trying to see off the Silver-washed from its patch. Possibly a Gatekeeper, as they are quite pugnacious.

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by harasseddad

At a guess it was a territorial male trying to see off the Silver-washed from its patch. Possibly a Gatekeeper, as they are quite pugnacious.

Thanks for reply harasseddad, never thought of that but seems the probable answer, the butterfly circling was only a quarter the size of the Fritillary so would have a hard job to make any impression but was not a Gatekeeper.

Regards

BK

[petereeles]

What you saw was the absolutely amazing courtship flight of the Silver-washed Fritillary. The female flies in an (almost) straight line, while the male flies continually under, in front of, and then over the female - spreading pheremones from its sex brands all the while.

Eventually, the pair land, settle, and mating takes place. You were very lucky to see this spectacle!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by petereeles

What you saw was the absolutely amazing courtship flight of the Silver-washed Fritillary. The female flies in an (almost) straight line, while the male flies continually under, in front of, and then over the female - spreading pheremones from its sex brands all the while.

Eventually, the pair land, settle, and mating takes place. You were very lucky to see this spectacle!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks for your suggestion Pete and i could understand that if the two butterflies were of the same species, however the one circling was a small light brown butterfly, of course it could have been a very randy butterfly who was happy to mate with any unfortunate victim, or fortunate which ever way you would like to view it.

Regards

BK