Silver-washed Fritillary Butterfly

A fairly large butterfly with a distinctive fast gliding habit, and is the easiest of the fritillaries to identify. Orange ground colour with bold black spots. The black bars on the forewings are present on the males. The underwing is a pale greenish with the characteristic silvery bands from which it earns it's common name. The swooping flight of this large and graceful butterfly is one of the most beautiful sights to be found in woodland during high summer. It is named after the silver streaks on the underside which can be viewed as it stops to feed on flowers such as Bramble. Although the butterfly is seen mostly in sunny glades and rides, it actually breeds in the shadier parts of adjacent woodland. In southern England, a small proportion of females have wings that are bronze-green, known as the form valezina. The Silver-washed Fritillary declined during the twentieth century, especially in England and Wales, but has spread noticeably during recent decades.