A deep dark brown ground colour with a single eye spot on each of it's forewing and a pattern of yellow-buff spots. Also has several prominant eye spots on it's hind wing. The aptly named Speckled Wood flies in partially shaded woodland with dappled sunlight. The male usually perches in a small pool of sunlight, from where it rises rapidly to intercept any intruder. Both sexes feed on honeydew in the tree tops and are rarely seen feeding on flowers, except early and late in the year when aphid activity is low.
The range of this butterfly contracted during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but has spread back since the 1920s. It has continued to spread over the past two decades, recolonizing many areas in eastern and northern England and Scotland.
Towards the northern and eastern margins of its range, the Speckled Wood breeds only in woodland habitats, but elsewhere it also uses lanes and tracks between tall hedgerows, parks, gardens, and scrub. It seems to prefer slightly damp areas where there is tall grass and some shade.
The male speckled wood defends its territory by launching aerial assaults on intruding males, and on butterflies of other species too. After a battle the victor returns to one of a handful of favoured vantage points, typically on a sunlit spray of leaves.
