Thanks for the comment Bill, very much appreciated
A dull and gloomy morning back here in the midlands which has given me time for this...
Tuesday May 27th – Wheelers Bay, Isle of Wight.
With Glanville Fritillaries being one of the species that I had not yet seen, I had decided that this year I was going to make the attempt. To my mind the correct and proper place to see them is on the Isle of Wight and so, a couple of months back, I had taken a bit of a gamble on timing and weather and booked Jane and myself into a B&B in Ventnor for 3 nights.
The journey down on Bank Holiday Monday was in rain most of the way and on arrival in Ventnor there was a steady drizzle and the forecast was not looking promising. Tuesday morning however dawned a bit brighter and with the sun shining through some decent breaks in the clouds I walked down to Wheelers Bay.
From information on the sightings page and in other diaries on UKB I had a good idea of the best places to look and it wasn’t long before I spotted my first Glanville Fritillary skimming along just above the ground and settling on the Red Valerian which grows all along here, or on some rocks to soak up the morning sun. This first one was soon joined by others, probably around half a dozen along this first stretch just before a large patch of pebbles. Walking a little further along past the pebbles there were more Glanvilles and on a couple of occasions I watched 2 or 3 males together chasing a female up the cliff face.
I carried on walking as far as Bonchurch before turning around and heading back again and as a rough estimate I think I saw between 15-20 Glanville Fritillaries, in various condition, mostly in the stretch by the pebbles, before the clouds started thickening up again later in the morning.
![IOW - May 2014 008resize.JPG (554.08 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_a2b31ef3ae71f8412a4d937302a86e36)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
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- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 055resize.JPG (658.89 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_7e9a89e8d2944da454a458da8da128f5)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 073resize.JPG (512.95 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_8f9b6c0b526b219e0ff6658e3a5fe7b2)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 075resize.JPG (584.41 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_f08d706519eeb34c251ef023c0650b17)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 083resize.JPG (508.83 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_997779fd1836551c0de1d256cd9eab43)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 101resize.JPG (573.56 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_9b354bac1ad5a4744416e050a5d7e6d5)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 154resize.JPG (596.92 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_bc14d11048539d3b33046afc58c6cfed)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 270resize.JPG (581.92 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_a7f808eb11775e6f189e98ef2c5fde10)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
I had been on the lookout for a good underside shot but in the sun the Glanvilles were either flying or basking with their wings open. With the cloud cover increasing again I managed to find one nicely posed on top of some Valerian.
![IOW - May 2014 234resize.JPG (625.96 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_673e77405d1dbd9fe428312452baa4f6)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 228resize.JPG (579.09 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_65fc0dec55c001aa9a62da360e7699bd)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 169resize.JPG (578.2 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_a6c3bf3f700df8a2bb75c598bd37eeb1)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
![IOW - May 2014 244resize.JPG (613.94 KiB) Viewed 1192 times Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014](./files/thumb_10101_7fb366e69ca1097ddba934645de39d7d)
- Glanville Fritillary - Wheelers Bay 27.05.2014
We butterfliers are never happy are we, we want the sun to bring the butterflies out and then we want some cloud to slow them down and get the pose we want
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
.
I had expected to see more people looking for the Glanville Fritillaries along here but apart from myself there was just one other couple, who had driven down from Edinburgh to see them. This was also their first time of seeing these butterflies and I was particularly pleased for them as apparently they had come down last year at about the same time and missed them by a week.
I also had an interesting conversation with a local chap who lives in Wheelers Bay (my apologies if you read this, I didn’t catch your name), about the fortunes of the Glanvilles and other butterflies along here and who also gave me directions to the best way up onto Bonchurch Down.
He also mentioned a local BC branch walk starting from the Afton Down Chalk Pit car park on Thursday morning if I was interested. I would be passing there on the way to catch the ferry back to Lymington on Thursday at 2.00pm so should have time, depending on the weather.
Other butterflies seen during the couple of hours that I spent along here this morning were half a dozen or more of Dingy Skippers and Common Blues, a few Large Whites and a single Orange-tip. There were also a couple of Red Admirals, my first since last September, which flew past without stopping, as did a Painted Lady and a Hummingbird Hawk Moth that briefly visited a few flower heads of Valerian before vanishing up the cliff.
Bye for now,
Neil