Rare Queen of Spain fritillary spotted in the Sallandse Heuvelrug

Climate change
The Queen of Spain fritillary (Issoria lathonia) is not a recent resident of the Netherlands because the vulnerable species has been breeding in the coastal region for decades. However, it can only reproduce by laying eggs on wild pansies, called duinviooltje or ‘violet of the dunes’ in Dutch. As the name suggests, this little plant only grows in the dunes, so the butterfly’s spread to other regions in the Netherlands is an extraordinary occurrence. Climate change is providing the butterfly with increasing opportunities to expand its habitat. A hot and dry climate creates the perfect conditions for the Queen of Spain fritillary and the last two years’ hot summers have allowed the butterfly to move over great distances. As a result, it is now breeding in the Sallandse heath fields. 

The rare butterfly has not only established itself here due to climate change, as there is a clear link to a project initiated by Natuurmonumenten. The Dutch nature conservancy organization has created artificial crop fields in the Sallandse Heuvelrug, giving the European field pansy room to flourish. In addition to wild pansies, the Queen of Spain fritillary also lays its eggs on European field pansies. 

Completely excited
Jos Schouten, one of Natuurmonumenten’s forest rangers, was completely excited when he first spotted a Queen of Spain fritillary. In 2019, Natuurmonumenten started a pilot sparing both European field and wild pansies instead of plowing the fields as had been done before, allowing the butterfly species to lay eggs here. It was hoped that this would enable the butterfly population to spread throughout the region.