Dolor_Muscas
Small heath on the heath ground
I was walking a familiar path, when i saw small butterflies flying around. At first during flight, i though it were one of the orange skipper species, but then i saw it was a small heath! I had never photographed a small heath before and i really wanted to. Problem was that they were so easily scared and even if not scared, they flew away fast. I was trying to get a shot for almost 5 minutes, chasing them around and trying to get shots. Then finally it landed again, took my shot succesfully and got this stunning result!
Small heath vs gatekeeper underside:
The underside of the small heath and gatekeeper can be very similar, but there are some major differences if you learn them. Firstly, the size is already a big difference. The small heath is only ~20-30mm in wingspan. The gatekeeper is usually way bigger then this. Secondly, the brown patterns in general are just slightly different. Thirdly, the big eye spot by the small heath only has 1 white point and by the gatekeeper it has 2 white points. Even though the size can already tell them apart, this can be handy if they are more similar in size (and don't show the other side) and macro shots where it's more difficult to tell the size and such.
---
Species: Small heath, hooibeestje š³š±, engringvinge š³š“ (coenonympha pamphilus)
Small heath on the heath ground
I was walking a familiar path, when i saw small butterflies flying around. At first during flight, i though it were one of the orange skipper species, but then i saw it was a small heath! I had never photographed a small heath before and i really wanted to. Problem was that they were so easily scared and even if not scared, they flew away fast. I was trying to get a shot for almost 5 minutes, chasing them around and trying to get shots. Then finally it landed again, took my shot succesfully and got this stunning result!
Small heath vs gatekeeper underside:
The underside of the small heath and gatekeeper can be very similar, but there are some major differences if you learn them. Firstly, the size is already a big difference. The small heath is only ~20-30mm in wingspan. The gatekeeper is usually way bigger then this. Secondly, the brown patterns in general are just slightly different. Thirdly, the big eye spot by the small heath only has 1 white point and by the gatekeeper it has 2 white points. Even though the size can already tell them apart, this can be handy if they are more similar in size (and don't show the other side) and macro shots where it's more difficult to tell the size and such.
---
Species: Small heath, hooibeestje š³š±, engringvinge š³š“ (coenonympha pamphilus)