Family Zandoogjes.
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The Argus butterfly.
Over the centuries, the argus butterfly has always fluctuated in numbers, but since 2009 the species has almost completely disappeared from the sandy soils and, besides the coast and Limburg, only occurs in the wet peat and clay areas. Most males keep a close eye on their territory from open areas on the ground. The females are also real sun worshipers and visit flowers more often. The butterfly flies in two generations from the end of April to the end of June and from July to September. In hot summers there is sometimes a third generation in September and October.
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The female is larger than the male and has no obvious scent stripes on the forewings like the males. The beautiful underside looks the same for both sexes.
The Bont Zandoogje.
This butterfly used to be mainly a type of forests and forest edges, but because of its rapid adaptability to our strongly changed landscape, it is now also a general type of gardens and parks. It is a species that, unlike many other species, cannot tolerate heat and drought and tolerates shade better than other species. What is unique about this butterfly is that it hibernates as a caterpillar, so that from March to mid-October there are three overlapping generations per year.
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The light spots of the females are larger than those of the males. Compared to the first generation, the butterflies are darker later in the year.
The Bruin Zandoogje.
Perhaps this is the most numerous and most widespread butterfly as it occurs in many biotopes and often in high densities. The butterfly is found throughout the Netherlands. Due to intensification of agriculture and eutrophication, this grass butterfly is under considerable pressure and is in decline. This butterfly has only one generation and has quite a long flight time; the first males appear at the end of May and the last butterflies are seen until October.
The males spend a lot of time looking for a female and visiting flowers among tall grasses. The female is especially calmer and often sits on the ground.
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In the male, the top of the forewings is brown with an unbuttoned black eye spot in the tip of the wing. The female has a striking orange field on the top of the forewings with a mostly white centered black eye spot. The top of the rear wing is brown.
The Oranje Zandoogje.
The orange sand eye is known in England as the '' hedge sand eye '' because it likes to occur in sunny and flowery places along hedges and hedgerows. Males and females like to sunbathe with open wings and drink nectar in groups, for example blackberry, ragwort and other flowers. This butterfly flies for a generation from the end of June to the end of August and with warm weather a few more in September.
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The underside is equal in the female and male and has small white points that characterize this species. On the upper side, the male has a deeper orange color, with clear dark scent stripes on the wings, which are missing in the female.
The Heivlinder.
The Pile Butterfly is the best camouflaged of all our butterflies. These butterflies fly on dry heather, dry heathery grasslands and drifting sands. They like to sunbathe on the ground, but seek shade from tree trunks when it gets too hot. They regulate their temperature by catching the sunlight sideways or upside down.
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The female is larger than the male and has a slightly lighter orange color, which can only be seen while flying, because they always have closed wings at rest.
Het Hooibeestje.
The inconspicuous small butterfly can be very numerous locally on drier grasslands. However, this species continues to decline due to eutrophication, desiccation, loss of flowery grasslands and intensification of agriculture. This butterfly has several overlapping generations from the end of April to the end of September. The males occupy a territory and often group together to wait for females, but go their separate ways after mating.
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The female is usually larger and paler than the male, but the ground color and the size of the spots are variable in both.
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The Koevinkje.
This modest but elegant butterfly is a common butterfly that mainly occurs on the sandy soils of the south and east of the Netherlands. In recent years, more and more cow finches have also been seen in the dunes. They avoid heat and populations often deteriorate after very dry and warm summers. Males appear first, from mid-June, and this single generation flies until mid-August. These butterflies are often still active in bad weather.
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The males are smaller and darker than the females and hardly drink nectar. The top of the wings is blackish brown. On the underside of the wings it is golden brown to dark brown. On the underside of the forewing there are three and on the underside of the rear wing are five large, white-centered and yellow-ringed eye spots.
