High brown fritillary  (Argynnis adippe)

The high brown fritillary is found across most of Europe except for the extreme north. In Britain it used to be found in England south of Cumbria, and across all of Wales. It is now restricted to just fragments of its former range, at sites in Devon, Herefordshire, parts of Wales and the region around Morecambe Bay.

This is a butterfly of woods and associated scrubby places. It requires warm, sunny, bracken-covered slopes with an abundant population of violets, the caterpillars' food plant, for egg- laying. The high brown fritillary is now confined to two different habitats in Britain. In the north the butterfly favours limestone woods and scrub. In the south of its range it is found in association with bracken-covered slopes.