Northern Brown Argus

I was amazed and delighted to spot a Northern Brown Argus, Aricia artaxerxes, flying in our garden when I took the dogs out one day last month. There is a colony of Northern Brown Argus about 500 metres up the valley from us, but they are on the other side of a mature woodland, so I can’t imagine it has flown in from there.

Three years ago I planted out some Rockrose plants on a bank close to the house. Rockrose is the foodplant of Northern Brown Argus and I realised that the stream that runs through our garden is the same stream that runs through the colony up the valley. So, I took some cuttings and successfully rooted ten plants. They are now a good size, but I don’t think the area is large enough to sustain a population of Argus.

Two years ago I briefly saw a Northern Brown Argus on the drive right outside the house, so it isn’t the first time I have seen one here. That time I only saw it briefly on one occasion. This year’s butterfly was here again two days later, so it stuck around a little longer.

There has been very little sunshine in recent weeks, so not ideal weather for seeing if there are any other Northern Brown Argus about. I will carefully check the leaves of the Rockrose a little later in the season to see if there are any signs of egg-laying.