Marbled White (Melanargia galathea)

The Marbled White butterfly has distinctive black and white markings on the on upper- wings, the male also has black markings the under- wings, in the female they are light brown. Both sexes have eye- spots on the underside of the hind- wings.
They are usually seen flying from June to August.  Active on bright sunny days, the males are always busy searching for newly emerging females, briefly resting to take nectar from Brambles, Ragwort, Thistles or Knapweed.