Vlinders van de Sint Pietersberg

One of the best known butterfly regions in the Netherlands is the Sint Pietersberg, situated in the southernmost point of the country (province Limburg). With its unique combination of hillside woods and chalk grasslands, it harbours many significant and rare species. In the past four years, 33 butterfly species have been spotted along a monitoring route. These include the Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) , the Small Blue (Cupido minimus), the Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) and the Wood White (Leptidea sinapis), all of which are more common in neighbouring Belgium than in the Netherlands. Possibly the Sint Pietersberg might act as kind of springboard for other rare or extinct species.