Andy Wilson

[trevor]

Well found !. I was at Abbots wood yesterday, the place looked magnificent, but no Pearls.
I expect the promised fine weather will encourage a mass emergence over the coming days.
Last year I was with Dave Cook and we saw two on April 18th !.

Great effort,
Trevor.

[dilettante]

I was excited for a minute thinking there were Pearls in Cambridgeshire, then realised I was confusing Abbots Wood and Monks Wood. Still, I'm very happy for you

[Andy Wilson]

Sorry, I am being a bit Sussex-centric. This was Abbots Woods near Hailsham in East Sussex. I know there are other Abbots Woods elsewhere!

[Pauline]

Sussex-centric or not, great find and great shot!

PS we have an Abbots Wood here in Hampshire too but sadly no Pearls there - just PE

[David M]

Well done, Andy. It's definitely not the 'April Fritillary' this year but nice to see them emerging nonetheless. Given that this emergence coincides with excellent weather conditions, let's hope they have a productive flight period.

[Andy Wilson]

I remember reading somewhere that the term 'April Fritillary' was coined a long time ago before the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar. When this happened we lost 11 days, so today would still have been April in the old Julian Calendar. The PBF's reputation as the April Fritillary has perhaps only been regained in recent years as a result of climate change.

[Wurzel]

That's great news Mike and a great find - hopefully many more will emerge across the country this weekend

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

That's a great find and nice shot too Mike, I'll have to pay a visit to Gait Barrow now but I expect we're way behind uo here. Goldie

[David M]

I remember reading somewhere that the term 'April Fritillary' was coined a long time ago before the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar. When this happened we lost 11 days, so today would still have been April in the old Julian Calendar. The PBF's reputation as the April Fritillary has perhaps only been regained in recent years as a result of climate change.

I'm sure you're right with this, although even given the change in calendar this year is abnormally late for PBF.

[Andy Wilson]

I went to Abbots Wood again yesterday afternoon in search of Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. As expected, since the first sighting last Friday, there has been a significant emergence in the last few days of warm weather, accompanied by an even larger population explosion of butterfly nuts. I must have counted at least 10 on site (nuts, that is, not butterflies!).

Nevertheless, we saw a couple of Pearls at Site 1, with a nice background chorus of birdsong that included a Garden Warbler and a solitary Nightingale. Others reported several Pearls at the main bluebell field at the northern end of the wood, but it was getting cooler and breezy when we arrived, so we saw none. Finally, we saw at least 5 individuals at the site where I saw the first one last week. This supposedly "secret" site seems currently to be the best location at Abbots, and it's not so secret judging from the number of enthusiasts that were also there. I got several nice photos, including one individual that seemed to have excess dark markings, particularly on the hind wings (butterfly, that is, not nut).

Pearl Bordered Fritillary (m)

Pearl Bordered Fritillary (m) (possible ab?)

[Andrew555]

Very nice Andy. I've not made it there yet, but will do soon, and join the nuts.

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Andy It's surprising how widely known 'secret sites' become Your Pearl does look a little dark though I'd wait for more of an expert than me to id it as an aberrant

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Lovely to know PBFs are emerging in numbers, Andy. This weekend is my only chance to catch up with them on UK soil and I was worried they were so late that I'd miss them. I shall go with greater confidence now.

[Andy Wilson]

I did my first walk of the year around Friston Gallops this afternoon. Conditions were pleasantly warm and sunny, about 23°C. By far the most numerous butterfly species was Small Heath, especially on the grassy path along the lower eastern boundary of the site, where I disturbed one or more every few yards. I must have seen well over 100.

Dingy Skipper were also present in good numbers (about 30 seen), and there were a few Small Coppers too. I also saw a couple of Wall Browns along the higher western side of the site, which is always a good place for them.

The flowers were beautiful too. In the sheltered north-eastern corner, there is a carpet of Horseshoe Vetch and Germander Speedwell, together with a lot of Cowslips, although these are now well past their best. There is also a large extent of Horseshoe Vetch at the upper northern end of the site, which bodes well for Adonis and Chalk Hill Blue. However, the only blue I saw today was a solitary Common Blue, so I guess they're only just starting and the first generation Adonis Blues are not yet out at this site.

[David M]

Those are encouraging numbers of Small Heath, Andy. Every year seemingly, I see fewer of them to the point where I'm beginning to consider them quite precious! I'm sure Common Blue numbers will explode soon...and after that, Adonis!

[Andy Wilson]

Having heard that the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary is out at Park Corner Heath, I spent 2 hours at Site 1 at Abbots Wood this afternoon, where I saw them last year after being reintroduced. There were plenty of Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and I must have seen at least 20 (even allowing for double counting), but no Small Pearls as far as I could see.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary (female I think)

[Andy Wilson]

This afternoon at Site 1 in Abbots Wood, I managed to achieve my ambition of seeing Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary flying together in Sussex. Conditions were warm but rather overcast, so they were reluctant to fly, but I saw several Pearls, which are now beginning to look rather faded and worn. One very fresh Small Pearl was also seen, which stood out because of its much brighter background colour. I managed to spot it at rest among the bluebells and bracken, and got some nice close-up pics before it took flight.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

[David M]

Wonderful news, Andy. There aren't many places in England where you can see both those species on the same day!

[Andy Wilson]

It's nice when you go to a site that is known for a particular species, and you see it and tick it off. However, it's far more rewarding to go somewhere that you don't know and have your expectations wildly exceeded. That's what happened to me yesterday.

I know that Glanville Fritillaries have been out on the Isle of Wight for at least a couple of weeks now, and I wanted very much to see them this year. Despite the overnight rain where I live in East Sussex, I decided early in the morning to take a chance and booked myself on the 10:30 ferry from Portsmouth to Fishbourne. The weather on the drive down was rather dull and it was still quite overcast when we arrived on the Island. I decided to make for Compton Bay, where there is a car park in an old quarry in which I saw Glanvilles a few years ago. After negotiating the half-term traffic around Newport and a road closure on the way to Freshwater, we eventually arrived at about midday.

Another enthusiast was already parked up, but he said that he had been there an hour and had only briefly seen one. Conditions were cool and rather windy, and it was clear that if any Glanvilles were around, they were very reluctant to fly. However, after about half an hour of scrambling around the old quarry, including following the false trail of a Wall Brown for a few minutes, we eventually found a rather faded old male Glanville Fritillary.

Box ticked, but rather unsatisfied, we decided to go elsewhere. Lower down at the beach at Compton Chine it was, if anything, cooler and more exposed, so we gave up on that. I decided that the best place to go would be Wheelers Bay and walk along the undercliff, where it would hopefully be less exposed. However, my car's satnav took us along the old road from Niton to Ventnor, which I soon realised was closed due to a landslip (and, as I found out, joining dozens of people every day who make this mistake). I decided to park and have a look around. It was much warmer here and there were several butterflies flying around the lovely gardens of the houses. My spirits were lifted to see a fresh Painted Lady on a clump of Valerian, my first of the year.

We decided to walk down towards the coastal path, and then follow it west towards St Catherine's Point. The path was narrow and close to the cliff edge, so I was concentrating more on where I was placing my feet than looking for butterflies. The weather was also still rather dull, but after half an hour, my wife flushed up something that flew for just a few yards before going back down. It was a Glanville! I took a few pictures and then we looked around and realised that there were several others, hunkering down from the wind. We found two which were sitting on a clump of lovely pink Thrift flowers. They were quite torpid, and my wife managed to persuade them to crawl on to her finger.

Further along, where the path dropped down to the beach, it was more sheltered, and we started to see Glanvilles flying -- lots of them. At one point I could see at least 6 flying simultaneously. I reckon altogether we saw about 40 along a short stretch of the path about 100 yards long. This was all around Grid Ref SZ524758. Time was now running short, so we headed away from the cliff path and climbed up through damp woodland to get back to the car, but I'm sure there were many more Glanvilles to be seen along this stretch of the coast if we had stayed longer.

So, in the end we had a very successful day trip to the Isle of Wight, and found a glorious glut of Glanvilles galore!

[Maximus]

Hi Andy, i'm glad that you found plenty of Glanville Fritillaries on your recent trip to the Isle of Wight. In our experience they are reluctant to fly in cool, windy conditions. During our recent visit conditions were the opposite, hot and sunny, so they were particulary lively, but we found large numbers. That first female on your wifes finger is a nice looking ab.