Tree Grayling

Neohipparchia statilinus

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Rare upperside picture, Switzerland, September 2006

Same individual

Rhône Valley, September 2005

Rhône Valley, September 2005. The eyes were commonly almond-shaped in this colony.

Rhône Valley, September 2005.

Rhône Valley, September 2005

Rhône Valley, September 2004

Rhône Valley, September 2004

Rhône Valley, September 2004

I associate tree graylings with hot, Spanish hills, usually on occasions when I don't have a camera with me. All those above, however, were filmed in Switzerland, but in the heat of the Rhône Valley, not the high mountains.

The butterfly flies less than most browns, descending rapidly to settle on trees or rocks, against which it is almost perfectly camouflaged. If you don't see exactly where it goes down you probably won't see it again until you disturb it. In flight it looks quite large, quite powerful and quite fast, though it does not glide and cruise like some graylings.