Day 293 - Pretty, Beautiful and Fantastic Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries

Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene) - feeding but not on Bugle

Hey everyone today's Day 293 and, as you know, I have recently been to the Lake District (saw Bee-Eaters - yes!). I went to a place called RSPB Geltsdale which is an incredible reserve. I read that it's one of the darkest places at night in England, so it's great for seeing stars so I'll have to get back for a night time visit. It has some incredible habitats and most importantly, it has some amazing wildlife. Yesterday I covered the first of 2-3 'lifers' that I saw there. So here is the second. The lovely Pearl-Bordered Fritillary.

Note: I will be covering both the Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary and the Pearl-Bordered Fritillary in this post.

So, here are the facts:

• The Pearl-Bordered Fritillary is seen most commonly between April and June but they have been seen from March all the way through August.

• The Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary is most commonly found between June and August but they can also be found about a month either side, less commonly.

It was hard to get close to and I had to follow it about

• These butterflies get their name from the 'pearls' that run along the edge of the wings, although other Fritillaries do have these too such as the Marsh Fritillary.

• The reason the Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary is called this is, is because its maximum wingspan is a bit smaller than the normal Pearl-Bordered Fritillary...

• ...More precisely the Large is between 44mm and 47mm while the Small is 41mm to 44mm. They can stretch either way in genders though.

• They are mostly found in the South of England, the North of Scotland and Wales. They don't seem to be found in Ireland at all though or there are no records on the sites I saw.

• One of the best ways to tell between all of the Fritillaries is that the Pearl-Bordered and the Small Pearl-Bordered always have 12 veins on their forewings. You can also tell from when and where they are found.

It settled down again for a moment.

• Even though we found this one in a marshy bit of a moorland up a hill, they are most commonly found in woodlands.

• Their caterpillars are quite fussy and are only found on Dog Violet or Marsh Violets.

• As adults their main source of food is nectar from Bugle but they also take nectar from a range of other plants too.

• This species is a conservation priority as it has been in decline. The main reason is probably as we don't do much coppicing of woodland anymore which is what creates the best habitat for them.

Here are some links to some more information:

UK Butterflies - Pearl-Bordered Fritillary - Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary

The Wildlife Trusts - Pearl-Bordered Fritillary

Butterfly Conservation - Pearl-Bordered Fritillary - Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 266 - Magnificently Beautiful and Brilliant Meadow Brown Butterfly

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)

Hey everyone today's Day 266 and anyone that saw yesterday's post will know that I went to Little Beck Woods. They are a beautiful place to go to, and if you are ever around Whitby, see if you can find the lovely village of Littlebeck and it's quite easy to find the sign. There is so much wildlife there and in yesterday's post I included a picture of the lovely Speckled Wood Butterfly. I saw another butterfly on my way there, and on the way back, which I haven't covered so far, the Meadow Brown. So that's what we'll be covering today. They were hard to photograph yesterday so the pictures here are from Askham Bog Nature Reserve.

So, here are the facts:

• This Butterfly is one of the most common and wide-spread Butterflies and is found throughout the Summer Months. So being this common you'd think they'd be easy to photograph! Not for me they always seem to fly off when I get close enough!

• They are very common throughout England, Wales and Scotland. They are found a little bit in Northern Ireland and not at all in the Republic or the Shetlands.

• They are found from April to October, but not commonly but between June and September the peak. They also can be seen out flying in dull weather even in light rain.

The closet I've been to one with my camera at the ready

• They are found in Grasslands, Heathlands, Coastal Dunes, Road-Side Verges, Woodlands, Hedgerows, Parks, and Large Gardens and Meadows. Anywhere with tall grasses.

• The caterpillar food plants are mainly grasses and they seem to be able to feed on fine grasses when little and the more rough or coarse grasses a they get bigger.

• They don't form breeding colonies on places like Road-Side Verges or Parks if they are regularly mown as this removes Nectar Sources.

• It is a medium sized Butterfly with Males having 40mm - 55mm wingspan while the Females have a 42mm - 60mm wingspan.

• They are Brown, obviously, and velvety with orange markings on their fore-wings...

• There are regional variations of these markings with the sizes of Orange Patches and Black circles varying. In Northern Ireland and Scotland, the Butterfly itself tends to be larger than in the South of the country.

Here are some links to some more information:

British Butterflies - Meadow Brown Butterflies

UK Butterflies - Meadow Brown Butterflies

NatureSpot - Meadow Brown Butterflies

Hope you enjoyed,

Z

Day 263 - Gorgeously Beautiful Gatekeeper Butterflies

Gatekeeper ( Pyronia tithonus )

Hey everyone today's Day 263 and there is a place just near York which I sometimes go to. This place is called Askham Bog, run by Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts. It is a nice place to visit just away from the 'hussle and bussle' of the city. It's quite near to the York Designer Outlet so when my Mum's shopping there me and my Dad go for a walk around! There are some interesting plants there as well as a variety of Animals Insects such as the Gatekeeper Butterfly.

So, here are the facts:

• They are confined to England and Wales and they are pretty common there but they are not found in Scotland or Ireland.

• They have sadly declined since the 1970s. It seems that they have declined by 12% in the last 45 years!

Wings half closed up

• They live in a range of habitats such as Coastal, Grassland, Heathland, Woodland and Towns and Gardens. They can commonly be found in Hedgerows and even on the side of Country Roads. 

• They are most common though where tall grasses meet hedges, trees or shrubs. This is probably why you see som many by hedgerows and why they have the common name of Hedge Brown!

• A way that we could help their numbers is to manage any Hedgerows and Woodland Edges. A couple of ways to do this is just to plant some more hedgerows or help to clear scrubby areas to make them a better environment.

• They are most common in July and August but they can be found from June into September.

• The Male has rather small wingspan of just 37mm - 43mm while the Females have a wingspan of 42mm - 48mm.

And fully folded

• A little bit more Sexual Dimorphism is that they look different. The Male has a Dark Patch on his fore-wing which produces a scent which they mostly use in Courtship Displays.

• The Larvae are found from late August to late June, the Pupa from Early June to early August and the Imago (butterfly) is most commonly found from late July to August.

• The adults seem to prefer the foodplants of Bramble and Ragwort but larval foodplants are mainly different types of grasses.
  

Here are some links to some more information:

NatureSpot - Gatekeeper Butterfly

UK Butterflies - Gatekeeper Butterfly

British Butterflies - Gatekeeper Butterfly

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.