The Dark Green Fritillary is quite a large butterfly with a wingspan of 63mm, it is the most widespread of the eight species of British Fritillary.  It can be found in many localised colonies through most of Britain, but is generally a coastal butterfly that is absent from many inland areas.  It is also found on many many of our islands as far north as Orkney and as far south as the Channel Islands.

During a "good summer" numbers of dark Green Fritillary can be quite high.  It has a relatively long flying period from June through to September. As with many butterflies it emerges later in the North and late July and early August is often a good time to see and photograph this butterfly.  They seem to have a preference for purple plants such as Knapweed, Thistles, etc.

These pictures were taken at Arnside Knott in Westmorland which is a good site where "DG Frit" can often be seen in good numbers.  It is also a good site for High Brown Fritillary which is a very similar butterfly and the two species can easily be confused.