Oberthür's Grizzled Skipper in my garden !!!

[traplican]

Last evening after the sunset I have taken a walk across my garden and noted a skipper Pyrgus sp. with the compound wings. After the wings underside it has seemed to be a Pyrgus armoricanus for me so a have take some photos and recorded it to the video. But I haven't succeeded in looking let alone snapping the upperside last evening.

But this morning I have visited the same place in my garden before the sunrise and the skipper sat on the same flower where I left one yesterday, dewy and numb. So I have waited until the sun shine this place and then the skipper laid uppersides of his wings out against the sun and let me to take ones to the photos.

Here are the photos and below is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSTZNgvb--w[/video]

[Padfield]

What a lovely garden you have!!

Just out of interest, how did you determine it as armoricanus, not alveus? It lacks the golden glow, on underside and upperside, of armoricanus in Switzerland and France, and resembles our alveus quite closely. Did you see the hindwing uppersides?

I'm not challenging your identification - just interested.

Guy

[traplican]

It was quite small butterfly, alveus is more larger. This butterfly wasn't larger than P. malvae. But naturally, my determination isn't definitive.