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Forum Members,

I am looking for your comments, thoughts and opinions as to a High Brown Fritillary record in Suffolk on 19th July 2014. The HBF was seen for a short period by two people. It was nectaring on coastal buddleja at Landguard Common, Felixstowe. Photos were taken and these have confirmed it as a male and in reasonably good condition. The butterfly did not linger and was not seen again.

From a geographical perspective Landguard Common sits on the mouth of the River Orwell and River Stour and lies adjacent to the Port of Felixstowe and across from the ports of Harwich and Parkeston Quay. Weather conditions on or just prior to 19th July 2014 were not remarkable.

HBF has not occurred in Suffolk since the late 1950's. Contact with Chris Van Swaay, Dutch Butterfly Conservation reveals that that HBF does not occur in Holland but some immigrants from surrounding countries have been recorded. Good populations exist in the Ardennes, Belgium and in eastern Germany.

It's worth noting that two Suffolk records of Scarce Tortoiseshell were made on 14th July 2014 further north in the county. Bizarrely, there were also a number of "black" swallowtail records reported in Felixstowe from 21st July to 5th August which were believed to be Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) and Ozark Swallowtail (Papilio joanae). These presumably came from a private collector as no local butterfly houses reported lost stock.

So my questions to you all are:

Are you aware of any evidence or references to support long distance migration by HBF, especially to the UK from the near continent?

Is anyone able to comment about movements of HBF in France?

For those of you lucky enough to have HBF occurring naturally in your county was there any evidence of dispersal last year, especially, given the positive year it had?

For those of you who do not have HBF in your county are you aware of "odd" records for HBF, especially coastal ones? If so, what were your thoughts as to origin?

Given its protected status is anyone aware of home breeding and releasing of HBF?

Many thanks,

Bill Stone,
Suffolk Butterfly Recorder,

I don't like to second guess the identification of this butterfly as a High Brown Fritillary, but can the Niobe Fritillary be definitely ruled out? Although the HBF is extinct in the Netherlands, the Niobe is still present on the coastal dunes. Just a thought.

M.

Hi Bill,
With reference to your last sentence, a quick search on-line shows that at least one UK butterfly supplier is selling HBF larvae as we speak. Not sure if they sold them last year, but an escaped adult from such a source (deliberate or otherwise) might seem the simplest explanation for this one-off sighting?

Trev

Although HBF did quite well at its single site in Wales last year, and exceedingly well in 2013, to my knowledge there have been no sightings at any other location nearby, so its powers of dispersal appear limited.