Does anybody know the name of a brown butterfly with a white edge all around its wings?

Question

The white edge was quite vivid and i thought it may be a ringlet butterfly although i did not notice any rings! I saw this on our farm in Perthshire and it is the first time i have noticed this butterfly here. A couple of friends have also noticed it this year for the first time.

Answer 1

Northern Brown Argus?

Brown Hairstreak?

Ringlet?

Answer 2

I would be really surprised if it was a Mourning Cloak (or Camberwell Beauty as they're called here in the UK) as MonstrousChicken has suggested - it's a rare migrant and classed as the butterfly enthusiast's equivalent of a birder's "twitch".  Some summers can see an influx of them, but I would be surprised if there was one as far north as Perthshire, unless it was an escapee from a private collection or butterfly house.

It may well have been a ringlet - sometimes they're so dark that you can barely see the "ring" markings at all - great example here; http://pbc.codehog.co.uk/bhs/pics/200506...

The Northern Brown Argus (especially given your location) is the most distinct possibility http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.p...

The subspecies found in your area has a white spot on each forewing

And don't forget the female Common Blue either - http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/image.php...

You can discount the Brown Hairstreak mentioned above -  you're too far north

Answer 3

Well, that's not a very thorough description, but I'd wager it's a Mourning Cloak, if you actually managed to notice the white edge at all.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...

Answer 4

its definately sound like the Northern Brown Argus to me

Answer 5

http://www.einsteins-emporium.com/life/a...

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

http://www.insectimages.org/