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Glanville Fritillary - Favourite Photo of 2021

Week 6

Is it Sunday already – where did that week go? A quick reminder that next week is the Social so hopefully Boris won’t come onto the TV and make any announcements about restrictions, Lockdowns etc.

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Another quick reminder that it might be a good idea to select your Overall Favourite Butterfly Photo of 2021 now if you haven’t done so already so that you’ve got something to post when the series of threads culminates in 14 weeks time…


Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Having missed a visit to Hutchinson's Bank in 2020, and therefore not seeing this species (and all its other delights), it was good to return in 2021 and watch this attractive butterfly again. Bugboy was there ahead of me, and he duly managed to "reserve" one for me as I had requested earlier. In the end there were a handful around (I believe the peak numbers appeared later on in a season drawn out somewhat by the underwhelming May weather this year.). Nevertheless, those seen were fresh, and quite obliging. Dave

Im lucky to be on the Doorstep of Hutchinsons Bank, and have monitored this colony since 2011, there were 23 larval webs in 2020/21 season, although the weather held back hatching until mid-May. I managed to get a good photo of male and female side by side. There were over 80 Glanvilles seen on the transect in 2021. Tall Growth when the rains come made it very hard to find larval webs so far the autumn.

Nice image of the two sexes side by side, MrSp0ck.

Just the one day with them this year, as outlined by millerd above. I do love the underside

A species I had not expected to see in 2021. Just prior to travelling down for our week in Dorset in mid June I had seen reports of (released) Glanville Fritillaries at a number of mainland sites including Compton and Fontmell Downs. I had planned on stopping off here to see first brood Adonis Blues and so started our circuit of the area by going down the bridle path along the edge of Compton Down which the reports had indicated was where the Glanvilles had been seen.
Along with good numbers of Adonis we managed to see a single Glanville Fritillary that we watched skimming back and forth along the path for about 10 minutes. He settled repeatedly but only briefly on each occasion but this allowed for a few quick shots before he went up and over the hedge and disappeared across the down.
I have to admit, I had very mixed feelings about seeing it at this site. Part of me was pleased to see a species that I had not expected to see this year but part of me felt that it just didn't belong here.
Cheers,

Neil.

I know what you mean Neil. But for me , not having to travel far to see species helped back to new sites is a good thing. Hutchinsons is a 40 minute drive for me and seeing Glanville’s close to home is a lovely treat

Another species I was glad to catch up with in 2021, having missed it in the restricted spring of the previous year. Photos from Surrey in early June, when because of the cold spring they were still remarkably fresh.

We were in the Isle of Wight in late May just as the weather finally started to pick up, and were rewarded by plentiful sightings of the Glanville Fritillary. I have chosen these two pics because the mating shot depicts their habitat nicely, and the upperside shot is an aberration.

Glanville Fritillary

In other years I’ve had to make a bit of a journey for this species but in 2020 a mate from Instagram put me onto a site where Glanvilles were flying in Wiltshire. There were reasonable numbers there in 2020 and so this year I kept my eye on various Social Media platforms and was ready when images from Wiltshire started cropping up. This one was my favourite from the day as it was the first one that I encountered. Another butterflier put me onto it and it was still half asleep, desperately soaking up the morning sun, hence I was able to get in really close and capture all manner of images of it, of which this one was my favourite as it ticked quite a few of the boxes. Over the course of the morning Lee, David and I managed to find upwards of 8 different individuals and the very good state of repair of the males suggested that there would be more to come as this was the first flush of emergences as it were – so fingers crossed for 2022!
Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Phil Bowler wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:04 pmWe were in the Isle of Wight in late May just as the weather finally started to pick up, and were rewarded by plentiful sightings of the Glanville Fritillary. I have chosen these two pics because the mating shot depicts their habitat nicely, and the upperside shot is an aberration.

Nice find, Phil. That's a beautiful ab.

Thanks, David. We also saw a very dark, almost black one but it flew off and never returned to be photographed!

Thanks to fellow UKB member, StevieB, I was able to see this species on home soil for the first time in nearly a decade.

On 4 June, I visited White Sheet Hill in Wiltshire and spent a pleasant couple of hours in the sheltered, lower area of the slope and reckon I saw seven Glanvilles in total: