Last week, I had a day's butterflying in Belgian Luxembourg and found 20 different species including my lifer Duke of Burgundy. It used to be called Duke of Burgundy Fritillary although it is, in fact, the only European representative of the metalmark family, which are mostly found in tropical South America. The underside of the wings is very similar to some of our fritillaries but that part of the name got dropped for being scientifically incorrect, although nobody is really sure as to why it was named after the Duke of Burgundy! I also added another two species to my ever-growing Belgian butterfly list, including the extremely rare Small Blue, and saw both male and female Sooty Copper. The best experience, though, was sitting in a meadow surrounded by ten or more Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries feeding on flowers which eventually resulted in this wonderful 'open-and-closed' shot.
