Violet Copper
Lycaena helle

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Male, May 2006, Switzerland

Male, May 2006, Switzerland

Male, June 2006, Switzerland

Male, June 2006, Switzerland

Male, June 2005, Switzerland

Male, June 2005, Switzerland

Female

Female underside

The violet copper is a widely distributed but very local butterfly, whose wetland habitat is increasingly under threat. A fresh male cannot really be mistaken for anything else, though I have known people mistake particularly bright sooty coppers for violet coppers. The female has different markings but both sexes share the row of white chevrons on the underside, making the species easily distinguishable at all times if the underside can be seen.

All these pictures were taken in Switzerland, the first six on my 'local patch' and the last two, of a female, in a different canton. It is a spring butterfly at low altitudes but my local colony, at about 1300m., remains on the wing into the first week of July.