SILVER WASHED FRITILLARY
Fritillaries are orange butterflies with black markings on their wings, but with many species of fritillary all looking fairly similar, identification can be a problem. Luckily for me when a large fritillary with pointed wings arrived in my garden and showed me its underside, then I was able to identify it as a silver-washed fritillary. They are large butterflies with females reaching 75mm wingspan and they have the pointy wings rather than the round wings of other fritillaries. The hind wing on the underside is greenish with silver steaks. The males are smaller and paler than the ladies.
These butterflies prefer broadleaf woodland, preferably oak but they can also be seen in coniferous forests with open glades. The adult butterflies feed on the nectar of bramble, thistle and knapweed (which gives you an idea of my garden!), but the caterpillars feed exclusively on violets. The caterpillars are brown/black with 2 yellow stripes down their backs with reddish brown spines. Unusually, the adults don’t lay their eggs on the violets, but in the crevices of tree bark above clumps of violets. When the eggs hatch the caterpillars immediately go into hibernation until spring, when they drop down and feed on the violets at the base of the tree. They pupate in the ground vegetation and the adults emerge in June.
