Nacré de la ronce

Since two days I'm back in the Netherlands and I'm already longing to be in the Vosges again. The brambles near/next to my house were in full flower during my departure and a lot of butterflies were flying around.

With these amounts of brambles (in french 'ronces') already last year I was wondering if the Marbled Fritillary will breed in 'my' brambles. 

On the 18th of June, by coincidence I found a caterpillar of the Marbled Fritillary and three days later the caterpillar (chenille) was transformed into a chrysalis.

This was one of the last caterpillars as on 21st June I saw the first two fresh  butterflies of this species. Two bright orange butterflies were patrolling 'my' brambles (searching for females)  and I was happy to see the first fritillaries on the brambles. 

Marbled Fritillary

Due to the extreme high temperatures all kind of butterfly species started flying. Last year I only saw one or two White Admirals at the same time....this year I saw a lot of them. Most of them were flying around in trees (also searching for females) but in the afternoon some of them came down to the brambles or ground to drink.

White Admiral

So next year I hope to find a chenille of the White Admiral as a lot of Honeysuckle is growing near my house too.