False Heath Fritillary

The False Heath Fritillary Melitaea diamina (Fr. le Damier noir) is a widely distributed but localised butterfly, that can be abundant where it occurs. I photographed this one in July last year in a windy mountain valley near Cauterets in the Hautes Pyrénées. It is a species that seems to like hilly landscapes with damp grassland such as where I saw it, rather than more gently rolling plains. The uppersides of individual butterflies can be very different from one another, with some being almost entirely black and others being more or less a checkerboard of black and tan with black wing bases. The underside is more reliably consistent.