Other Common Names
Small Copper, Grassland Copper

I finally found this species in March 2007, after looking for it any number of times in the previous 3 years. When I finally saw this butterfly, it was at the Mount Annan Botanic Garden, a place I'd looked for it several times before. According to the books this species is very sporadic, with colonies suddenly reappearing after being absent for quite some time. On this particular visit, the site was much wetter than any time I'd visited before as a result of some recent heavy rain, and the presence of these butterflies may have been linked to that. Certainly I saw much more of their foodplant (Oxalis) than I'd ever seen before.
The butterflies were only to be found in small numbers - I saw them in half a dozen different places around the Gardens, but probably didn't see more than 10 individual specimens. They were all found on grassy banks, mostly near the top. They were very unobtrusive when flying, and in fact were surprisingly difficult to distinguish in flight from some of the other Lycaenids in the area; so much so, in fact, that I couldn't help wondering if I'd simply overlooked them before.

Sightings
Mount Annan Botanic Garden - March 2007
White Rock, QLD - November 2008
Mount Ainslie, ACT - February 2010, April 2010, November 2012
Michelago - October 2018
Tuggeranong, ACT - October 2018