Approximate distribution
Note that within this area it is often very local, in isolated,
scattered colonies
This is a wetland butterfly with a wide distribution in
central and
eastern Europe but generally scarce and difficult to find, due to a
combination of the increasing destruction of wetland habitats and the
low density of the butterfly at its sites. I saw my first individual in
Hungary in 1994. After that, I saw no more until Tim Cowles took me to
some sites near Lyon, where I saw my only French large coppers. Since
then, I have found large coppers yearly at various sites in western
Switzerland,
all near Geneva, where the species is apparently expanding its range.
One of these sites is very much a dry site - a dry horse paddock to be
precise - though it borders a stream. The eggs and caterpillar
illustrated above were found far from water in this paddock. They
were laid by the spring brood of the butterfly, however, and it is
possible the summer brood lays closer to the water - habitat
requirements of hibernating larvae may be different from those of
summer caterpillars.
From the upperside the males of this species look like scarce
coppers
but the underside is quite distinctive, differentiating this species
from all others. The females are unmistakeable
from above or below. I don't know if it is just because of the special
status the large copper holds in British butterfly lore and
imagination, but it always seems to me this is a particularly
magnificent insect. It is a great privilege to find oneself in its
company.
Males in particular are fond of nectaring on yellow,
daisy-type
flowers, though they come to many other nectar sources too. They defend
territories in more or less overgrown corners of habitat, frequently
returning to the same spots if disturbed, though also capable of
zooming off, never to be seen again! Females may be seen wandering more
widely, looking for places to lay. I discreetly followed one female
while she meandered all over a large, hilly meadow, occasionally
stopping to lay when she found dock. I tend to see males in precisely
the same places each year, while encountering females rather more
randomly in the general area I know them to fly.
The butterfly has a sad history in England, having been
discovered in
the East Anglian wetlands in the middle of the 18th century
only
to be
driven to extinction by collectors by the middle of the 19th century.
The British race was even larger and brighter than the continental
race, though a similar race flies in Holland - it was this race that
was reintroduced to East Anglia (Woodwalton Fen, Hunts). The
reintroduction was successful but the colony was not self-sufficient
and the butterfly is (I believe) currently extinct again in England.
