A Four Fritillary Day

It was finally warm and sunny on Sunday 14th June and so I headed off to Dartmoor to look for Fritillaries. I had planned to catch the first bus of the day at 9am but a late night and too much wine at a family barbecue the previous day put paid to that and I didn't arrive off the bus until almost Midday!

High Brown Fritillary is my favourite UK butterfly and I voted for it in the recent Butterfly Conservation poll to find the Nations favourite butterfly, unsurprisingly it ranked only 49th in the poll but probably because it is so rare and many people have never seen one. However going out butterflying to look for them is a must-do activity in my wildlife year and I kept my fingers crossed that I would be lucky today.

Only 49th place!

Fritillary habitat on glorious Dartmoor

As I started my walk it felt pleasantly warm in the sunshine and quite humid with only a light breeze but within 10 minutes I had found my first Fritillary, a very smart Silver-washed Fritillary nectaring on Bramble flowers before dashing off never to be seen again and a little unexpected.

Silver-washed Fritillary 

Silver-washed Fritillary

A few minutes later and a bit further along the path I found a second Fritillary, a very smart Dark Green Fritillary which was dashing about all over the Bracken but which also regularly settled briefly in the same spot allowing me to get a good view of it.

Dark Green Fritillary 

Dark Green Fritillary 

I headed onwards and found more large Fritillary flitting about although they rarely settled for long and when they did I was able to ID them as Dark Green Fritillary. I also thought I saw a High Brown Fritillary, it was up and gone before I could confirm it properly but I did find a worn looking Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary nectaring on the Bramble Flowers.

Dark Green Fritillary 

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 

It was soon time to head back to the bus stop for the journey home, along the way there were more large Fritillaries flying about and all were I'D as Dark Green Fritillary when they settled briefly but eventually I found a High Brown Fritillary resting in a tree by the footpath.

High Brown Fritillary - just Gorgeous!

High Brown Fritillary 

Other butterflies seen were a Large Skipper, a Speckled Wood, Meadow Browns, 2 Painted Lady, 2 Red Admiral and male Brimstones. A few Odonata were seen too with Golden-ringed Dragonfly sighted frequently buzzing over the Bracken and a female Beautiful Demoiselle and a Broad-bodied Chaser seen along a small stream.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Broad-bodied Chaser

It was quiet bird-wise on my walk as expected but the highlight was a skulky singing Garden Warbler in an Oak tree. Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were also seen and heard, a family party of recently fledged Coal Tit moved noisily through the vegetation and a Tawny Owl was heard calling near the car park despite the sunny skies and the 4pm time.

All in all it had been a very successful day out butterflying and I had managed to see 4 species of Fritillary in a day, something I've never achieved before. Finding a High Brown Fritillary was as joyful as ever and hopefully I'll get out to see them again before their short flight season is over for this year.