www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Glanville Fritillary - Favourite Photo of 2023

Week 6

Things are definitely slowing down now and so the end is in sight. However next weekend is the Winter Social so it’s not all doom and gloom; possibly Doombar in the gloaming instead?

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

Glanville Fritillary

I seemed to make plenty of second visits to sites this year and also a lot of the selections for the Favourites seem to be coming from those visits…such is the case here. It came from early June and my second visit to Compton Down. The stunning setting and plethora of other species helped me overcome the feeling of looking at an exhibit in a zoo as did the behaviour of this individual; flying in a similar manner and in a similar habitat to those that I’d seen in the wild in the Dordogne. I chose this one as instead of sitting on the bare rock or dwarfing a nectar source it sat low but in amongst a tangle of grasses which I feel made for a nice background. I also love the underwing and it’s very nicely shown here.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Where can a start this year the Hutchinsons Glanvilles were overlooked for 2 weeks, but got on with breeding, so we have at least 54 Larval Webs for 2024.
here are a few pictures.

Well what a coincidence - or maybe not so much! I saw what looks like the very same individual as the one in the last photo above on a visit to Hutchinson's in late May. I say this with some confidence because of the rather idiosyncratic angle at which the left-hand antenna bends around. As it was the only one I saw which stopped for a photo on that visit, and I didn't venture down to the IoW, I'll take the liberty of posting it anyhow, with apologies for the duplication and acknowledging that my photo isn't so good.

I noticed that that left-hand antenna looks rather different not only because of the bend in it, but also because the shaft above the bend until just before the club appears white, rather than the normal black-and-white banding (as in the right-hand antenna). So presumably something went awry in the development - maybe the outer layer which gives the antenna its strength is missing some components in that area. As it's only on one side, I'd guess this was just down to some factor at the pupal stage, and shouldn't affect any progeny of this individual.

I made two trips to Hutchinson's Bank this year, and both times found the Glanvilles being ignored by most folk because of other butterflies (Marsh Frits in May and BVW in June). It was good not to have to compete for space for a change. My favourite is probably this shot from the June visit. Dave

Now for something rather different - I came across this gravestone in the churchyard cemetery at Westbury-sub-Mendip (Somerset); there were a couple of other 'Forest Glanvile' graves there too. Forest was the name of Eleanor Glanville's eldest son, the one who went to court to overturn her will. Being the son of her first marriage, he probably didn't use the surname Glanville (Ashcroft I think?), and a bit of research on Google suggests that that his younger Glanville half-brother named one of his children Forest after his brother; he relocated to Wedmore which is nearby Westbury-sub-Mendip and the name has descended through the family in this area for several generations.

Remember Eleanor Glanville lived at Sand Point, Somerset, which has had Glanvilles up until 2016, on and off. So a lot of the Glanville Fritillary history from the begining in the UK is in that area. Petivers history at the end is in ours in South London.

Didn't see this species in the UK this year...and I didn't even photograph any during my many trips to Europe.

My only image came from the High Atlas in Morocco on 19th May:

I inadvertently chose a day when the introduced Black-veined Whites were keeping everyone entertained so had the Glanvilles pretty much to myself. I spent a fair bit of time with a courting pair. I like this particular shot since I got upperside and underside in the same shot.