Dark Green Fritillary - Take 2

Walking back from the Co-op yesterday I found this dead Dark Green Fritillary on the pavement and took it home to examine more closely. Then I saw Malcolm's post on this blog and thought I'd add a photo of the underside of this fritillary. I still tend to think it's not very well-named, but you can see the green sheen on its hindwing which gives it its vernacular name.
We have a great book in the library which tells you all about the origin of the scientific names of butterflies, so here we go:
Argynnis aglaja
Argynnus was a lady beloved by Agammemnon who erected a temple in her honour where Aphrodite (Venus) was worshipped; thus Argynnis came to be used as an epithet of Aphrodite and Fabricius used the name as a family name for the larger fritillaries. Fond of word play, Fabricius is probably punning on 'arguros' (silver), with reference to the silvery underside markings of these butterflies.
Aglaja was one of the three Graces who personified elegance and beauty.
So, there you go!
Becky

Dark Green Fritillary - Argynnis aglaja

Dark-green Fritillary

This species is perhaps best identified by seeing a very strongly flying brown butterfly zipping past you and never settling close enough to look at! And when they do settle, they often close their wings. This one, though, settled with its wings mostly open, maybe something to do with the strong wind blowing at the time. For the same reason, I didn't dare move to get a more 'square-on' view because it could have been blown a long way before settling again.
Malcolm

Email from Rochdale

Thanks to Stephen and Yvonne Pinnington, who sent us this entry for the blog. 

We have recently returned from our second fantastic two-week break on Islay.

We were fortunate to be able to spend some time with members of the Islay Natural History Trust; at their centre at Port Charlotte (well worth a visit! and a good place to start exploring the wildlife of the island) and on two guided walks at Kintra and Bunnahabhain.

Our highlights included an adder on our first evening at our cottage overlooking Kilnaughton Bay as well as sightings of hen harriers hunting everyday, a pair of golden eagles at the Oa, a pair of yellow hammers at Bunnahabhain and the little terns at Kintra.

We also saw lots of small birds such as whitethroat and stonechat, dragonflies, including a golden-ringed, which was a first for us, Dark Green fritillaries everwhere, and frog and pyramidal orchids at Killinallan.

We were able to use our moth trap and attracted huge numbers of Drinker and Garden Tigers plus a Peach Blossom and Lychnis, which were all new to us.

Female adder

Dark Green Fritillary

Male Hen Harrier

Peach Blossom Moth

Altogether, a fantastic variety of flora and fauna that we are sure will bring us back to Islay again.

More photos from Mark and Sally Johnson

Dark Green Fritillary

Gruinart gate post

Four-spotted Chaser

Garden Tiger Moth Caterpillar