Glanville Fritillary

Glanville Fritillary, Melitaea cinxia.  Female.  Hutchinson's Bank, 24 May 2016.

Glanville Fritillaries are rare in the UK, occurring naturally in the Channel Islands and the south coast of the Isle of Wight.  There is a small colony on the Hampshire coast, probably re-introduced there, and two other sites where it has been introduced.  One of these happens to be a couple of miles from my house.

They are pretty creatures.

Glanville Fritillary, Melitaea cinxia.  Male.  Hutchinson's Bank, 24 May 2016.

I actually went there to look for Small Blues, but didn't see any.  What I did see was people in search of the Glanville Fritillary.  I knew it was there, but I did not know that this was its peak time.  There were at least half a dozen specimens flying and basking in a small chalk cutting, and I photographed three.

Glanville Fritillary, Melitaea cinxia.  Male.  Hutchinson's Bank, 24 May 2016.

I was told that they were introduced here in 2011.  Five years is the blink of an eye for a species, but so far they seem to be doing well.  This cutting catches the sun, and I have seen other scarce-ish species here; the Small Blues that I missed this year, and Chalkhill Blues.

It's a nice spot and I took some other photos too, some of which I will show in my next post.

Glanville hunters in a chalk cutting on Hutchinson's Bank.  24 May 2016.