Very Late Dark Green Fritillary in Sussex

[John_C]

I had some business in Eastbourne last weekend so when I had a little spare time last Saturday (3rd October) I decided to visit a few of the best butterfly sites in the area just to see which species were still flying this late in the season, I saw 12 different species (Clouded Yellow, Large White, Small White, Small Copper, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Dark Green Fritillary, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown and Small Heath), I would have expected to maybe see most of these species but the big surprise for me was seeing 3 Dark Green Fritillaries at Birling Gap (Grid References TV5496 and TV5596).

So just how rare is it to see Dark Green Fritillaries in early October because I have never seen this species after the first week of September (and that was in Scotland when they have a slightly later flight season) so were these just exceptionally late butterflies or is it possible they came from a 2nd brood which is something I have never known.

[millerd]

Hi John - that sounds like an extraordinary sighting to me, months later than normal, but certainly in one of their haunts. Is it conceivable they were something else? Also possible, but also very unusual, would be Queen of Spain, which have been seen very occasionally at this time of year on the south coast. Either way, it's a cracker of a sighting.

Dave

[Padfield]

Large fritillaries can be very long-lived. I know it's not directly comparable, but in Switzerland, both in the mountains and in the Mediterranean heat of the Rhône Valley, dark green fritillaries occasionally fly into October. My latest (I think) was a male on 18th October in the Rhône Valley in 2013. Many years ago I saw one at 2000m early in the month. So far as I know, there's no suggestion of a second brood - just a prolonged emergence coupled with high longevity. Whether the same holds in the UK I don't know.

Guy

[Neil Hulme]

Hi John/all,

We had a report (BC Sussex website) of 2 Dark Green Fritillaries at Birling Gap on 1st October, so you are not imagining things! It has been a late year (by C20th standards) from the off, so this is atypically late, but not unprecedented. There are still quite a few Brown Hairstreaks flying in West Sussex.

BWs, Neil

[David M]

I think they have a rather odd life cycle. For instance, I tend to see only very faded specimens by late July in south Wales but have visited coastal sites in S. England at the very end of July and they've been fresh as a daisy.

[John_C]

Hi All

Thanks very much for all your expert opinions, I am no expert but they looked like Dark Green Fritillaries to me but I wasn't able to get really close to them due to the blustery wind, to be honest I never even considered that they could have been another closely related species but now I suppose that it is possible although unlikely.

John

[David M]

Hard to see what else they could have been. I suppose a casual observer may mistake the late flying Wall Brown for DGF but anyone with a moderate level of experience would know that DGFs are considerably larger in size. The only realistic mistake would be confusing it with another fritillary, and unless it was a migrant Queen of Spain, no other Frits would be on the wing at that time.

[John_C]

The butterflies which I saw last week were definately large fritillaries and although I haven't seen a Queen of Spain Fritillary since I visited France in 2014 I do recall they were a little smaller in size compared to a Dark Green Fritillary so I am pretty certain that DGFs are what I saw.

[MrSp0ck]

The Dark Green Fritillary overwinters as a first instar larva, so they would go through to adult quickly if they are tricked into a false winter.
So a cold August followed by a warm September could do that. The July and August were among he coldest in recent years from the latest Surrey Skipper

---------->
Summer saw an unusual pattern of temperatures. June came out 35th, July 37th
and August 39th and overall it was 36th! Hot days were one off events – more on
that later. June was dry and sunny, July was less dry and less sunny, and August,
well, the 8th wettest and 9th dullest. The trouble is that when you add summer
together and produce an average, the record books will not reflect these monthly
variations. Spare a thought for the poor folk of West Scotland, who had their coldest
summer since 1998.
<---------

Other large nymphalids eg White Admiral also sometimes go through to adult in September, and as they fly in June at the same time i would expect DGFs might do the same

I dont think we had a good enough summer for them to second brood, but in a warm location its possible, but i would expect a few at other locations if this was the case.

Its a long time ago that DGFs were seen flying in the South, in the first week of August the were very tatty.