Mother Nature

This is a common butterfly throughout the lowlands of Central and Eastern Europe. The species is expanding its range throughout Western Europe. In the UK the species is a rare vagrant. Attempts of introducing the species have failed over the past 100 years and are now illegal.

This is an unusual butterfly since his two broods look very different. The summer version is black with white markings and lacking most of the orange of the summer brood.

I guess the one pictured is a summer one then

Edit / Update: I found another photo with the wings open. Maybe it’s a spring version after all. The summer one looks totally different.

They lay their eggs in long strings on top of one other, on the underside of stinging nettles, the larval foodplant.

Thanks to wiki for this Info! (Und die Info auf Deutsch)

The German name is hilarious in my opinion. ‘Landkärtchenfalter’ is “cutyfiying” that name. If they at least had used the literal translation ‘Landkartenfalter’…. Germans…. 

Taken with a Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm

August 2009, Somogy county, Hungary

Copyright NicoleB Photography