Great Spangled Fritillary

Isn't that a great name for a butterfly? I went up to the hayfield this afternoon to see whether we had any Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed plants up there. In late August last year they were being chewed to stalks by them. I saw this fritillary instead:


We have seen fewer Monarch butterflies than we had this time last year - but that might be down to the dampish nature of the last six weeks. When I found the patch of milkweeds they looked completely unscathed:


But on my way back home a Monarch appeared and posed for me in the clump of trees next to the pond, as if to reassure me that they haven't deserted the farm completely.