Silver-washed Fritillary

I found this stunning Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia basking in the early morning sun at Finmere Woods, near Aylesbury. The females are darker and more heavily spotted than the bright orange males and tend to be less conspicuous, often keeping to shadier areas of a wood as they search for clumps of Common Dog-violets growing at the base of Oak trees. The eggs are laid in crevices in the tree-bark, where the caterpillars hibernate before emerging the following year to feed on the Violets. 

 Female Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia - Finmere Wood, Buckinghamshire, 21/07/2012