www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hello

What is this butterfly?
It is some sort of fritillary presumably, but which species?
From the relative size of the bumblebee, you can see that it's fairly large...
Unfortunately this is the only photo.
Fwiw, photographed in a garden in Berkshire, UK.
Thanks

J

PS Note what appears to be an indentation in the outline of the front wings (see arrow) EDIT
Also note that the butterfly in question doesn't seem to have the circular markings near the wing tips:
Furthermore the outline of the rear wind has quite pronounced semi-circular indentations..

It's a female Silver-washed Fritillary
https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species ... ies=paphia

It's often difficult to gauge size from an image. Silver Washed Fritillaries are huge, whereas Queen of Spain Frits can be quite small (particularly the males).

Ah..... yes, it looks like you are correct.

What put me off is that this one is very orange and does not have that green/silver shade that some of them seem to have...
Also most photos seem to be of the males for some reason!

It was certainly quite large as you can see form the relatively small size of the bumblebee!

Many thanks

J

ship69 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:44 am Ah..... yes, it looks like you are correct.

What put me off is that this one is very orange and does not have that green/silver shade that some of them seem to have...
Also most photos seem to be of the males for some reason!

It was certainly quite large as you can see form the relatively small size of the bumblebee!

The green/silver shade varies, ship69. At one extreme you have the valezina form of the female, yet in many there isn't really a hint of green.

It's practically impossible to recreate two dimensionally what one sees in the field.