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Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Favourite Photo of 2022

Week 13

Some lucky peeps are already off the mark in 2023! But for those of us still missing the butterflies and counting down the days here are a few more fabulous Favorites to pick through!

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.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I had two bites at this particular cherry in 2022.

I sought them out to start with at Rewell Wood on 26th April, and found that staying in one spot and waiting for one to settle nearby worked the magic.The second encounter was at Park Corner Heath on 18th May when actually looking for Small Pearls. There were several faded Pearls flying as well and one posed rather nicely.There was some interaction between the two species, just to confuse things. Dave

My favourite Pearl-bordered Fritillary photograph is of this fresh female which I happened upon, nicely posing on a bluebell.


http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

downland boy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 9:41 amMy favourite Pearl-bordered Fritillary photograph is of this fresh female which I happened upon, nicely posing on a bluebell.

Always a bonus when they do that, DB.

This species does seem to have a particular affinity for the colour blue.

Cambus o may on Deeside never lets me down when I go looking for this beauty. They were in abundance last 2 weeks in May.

Like Dave I had two bites from the PBF cherry, one at my usual hunting ground at Abbots Wood and a second two days later at Park Corner Heath after discovering a route I can do where this female posed for me

Last year I was driving through Bodmin Moor in unusually sunny weather so I made a quick stop at a Pearl-bordered site. Several were flying but only one sat and allowed me to take photographs. Alas, by the time I reached Wiltshire, the sky was black, my windscreen wipers were working hard and there was no point in further diversions. This was the only butterfly I photographed that day!

This species does seem to have a particular affinity for the colour blue.

.....especially with bugle flowers David. I don't think that I have knowingly seen euphrosyne nectar on anything else in my local woods.

Yes, bugle is undoubtedly their favourite, DB, although I occasionally see them on dandelion and hawkweed at my local site.

These are my two favourite PBF shots from 2022: an upperside shot of a male feeding from bugle, and an underside shot revealing its micro habitat, where we located it in late May, in the North Yorkshire Moors.

Pearl Bordered Fritillary

Unlike their Small cousins the Pearls are holding on and seem to be ding okay at Bentley Wood. The new regime of cutting back and opening up various new clearings seems to be paying off and the Pearls are still to be seen whizzing about along the little canyons of old Bracken or cutting a dash over the low growing Bramble. I chose this as my favourite partly because the image just stuck in my head but also because it reminds me of the day. I’d gone over first thing and had the whole of the Eastern Clearing to myself – Tree Pipits were calling, there was a slight mist rising of the Bracken as the dew evaporated and in the weak sunshine this glorious ginger beastie hove into view. Brilliant!
Have a goodun

Wurzel

14th May is a bit late for PBF hunting as they are generally well past their best by then. However, it was the only chance I got in the UK last year: