Today, I visited the Holzwarchetal nature reserve in the very east of Belgium for a spot of butterflying. I first discovered this reserve thanks to a fellow birder+butterflier last spring, when we spent the whole day photographing Violet Coppers. Today, though, I was hoping to find some fritillaries as two different species had been reported there recently. Fritillaries have to be my favourite group of European butterflies due to their intricate patterns and often highly localised distributions, which also make them some of the most difficult ones to see. There are at least sixteen different species in Belgium, of which I have only seen two so far. My field guide mentions that they need a lot of nectar and groups of them can often be found on flowers, where they are easy to observe and photograph. Well, the fritillaries in the Holzwarche valley have not read the instructions manual! I kept seeing them fluttering around but they steadfastly refused to land on anything and some of them looked like they might be migrating as they hurried past me up the valley side and out of sight into the trees. Those that were hanging around, were sticking low in the vegetation in an area which was fenced off so I couldn't even get close to them, not that identifying one in flight would have been possible anyway. The first hour and a half was very frustrating, therefore, until one finally landed not too far away and just long enough for me to take a single picture. Amazingly, that one photograph turned out not only to be in focus, but also to show the characteristic, light-centred rings of the rare Bog Fritillary!
There may have been another species present but this was the only one which stopped long enough for me to identify. Nevertheless, the day's butterfly list totalled 11 species, including a few more Violet Coppers and the even scarcer Woodland Ringlet. I did remember to look up every now and again, though, as two Red Kites kept making their plaintive whistling call as they circled overhead (this one looks like a juvenile).
I also saw two male Red-backed Shrikes, another species only to be found in the south and east of Belgium, several singing Marsh Warblers, Beautiful Demoiselle and Large Red Damselfly, plus this Spotted Orchid.
