That was a great photo of Pauline's Goldie
Fritillaries
21 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, 30-05-2015
It seems a shame to start with this species as it was later emerging and also was down in numbers from what I have seen in previous years. Mind you I did visit at the very start of its emergence again and again I somehow confined myself to the Eastern Clearance. I’m sure there are plenty more Small Pearls out there so next year I need to check out more of the wood as well as some of the smaller woods nearby. Mind you I suppose seeing a second brood in August in the Czech Republic might count as getting around a bit
22 Pearl-bordered Fritillary, 03-05 Bentley Wood
Normally the Pearls are the first sign of things really kicking off and if things are running late then so to do the Pearls. This year however, whilst most species were dragging their tarsi the Pearls actually emerged at pretty much the same time as last year. When Philzoid and I visited Bentley Wood there seemed to be fewer Pearls flying than last year. However from checking the book it seemed that they’d only just started emerging a couple of days before and so we’d arrived very early in their flight period whilst last year (2014) we were actually quite late and individuals were already ovipositing. So to see as many as we did so early in their flight led me to believe that at Bentley they had a reasonable year – although still nowhere near the high numbers a few years back they hadn’t declined any further. They were still around a month later when I went looking for my Small Pearls.
23 Dark Green Fritillary, 01-07-2015 Larkhill
I saw my first DGF a little over a fortnight later this year compared to last. This however could have been because I didn’t get to Martin Down this year for my usual ‘fix’ of DGFs early in the season. Not only did this have an impact on how accurately I could compare their emergence times this year but it also meant that judging how well they did would be difficult and if I was to go by numbers alone then I would have to say that they had a poor showing. That being said again this could be because I didn’t visit Martin Down and so had no direct comparison available. An alternative way to judge how good a season they had would be to look at the range of sites at which I saw them. Most years I can see DGFs at Martin Down and down at Lulworth if I’m lucky as well as possibly a couple at The Devenish. This year The Devenish held none and my only early trip to Lulworth was too early for them – so things still aren’t looking good for the poor old DGF. But hold on there seems to be an upturn in their fortunes as not only did I see them at Larkhill for the first time ever but I also found a couple in Bentley, 5 or 6 in Grovely Wood, good numbers at Broughton Down and eventually a couple at Laverstock and a further couple at my Duke Site. Of these all apart from Bentley Wood were ‘firsts’ for the site and so on this basis I judge the DGF to have a pretty successful year.
24 Silver-washed Fritillary, 05-07-2015 Grovely
As I only made the one trip to Bentley Wood at around the same time as the Silver Washed were out it is difficult again for me to judge how well they did as I have no point of comparison. So I can only judge how well they did by thinking back at which sites I saw them at – Bentley Wood, Studland and my Duke site as well as Shipton Bellinger. This may seem a nice wide range but I’ve seen them at a similar range before and I feel that they were slightly down in numbers.
One thing I did notice was that certainly hung around and my last one was at Shipton Bellinger whilst looking for Brostreaks and was almost into September. Whether this is a usual occurrence here or an artefact of their later season, emerging a fortnight or so later this year, I’m not sure.
25 Marsh Fritillary, 13-05-2015 Marshie site
Although it seemed that the Marshies were about at about the same time this year that was only because this year I didn’t hang around to see if they were emerging. In previous years reports have come in from various other sites across Wiltshire and as soon as I start seeing counts in excess of 20 then I start making plans to head over to my Marshie site. This year I didn’t wait as they were slightly later in emerging and I was champing at the bit by the time they arrived on the scene.
Number wise I feel that they had another good year and were equally as numerous at my Marshie site as in previous years despite some concerns about the huge numbers of larvae that had been seen wandering round once the main food source was depleted. Unfortunately I can’t comment on how they did anywhere else as this was the only place that I saw them this year as I didn’t make the trip to my Hampshire site but hopefully how they did at my Marshie site was mirrored elsewhere.
26 Heath Fritillary, 14-06-2015 East Blean
This was the year that I finally made good on my plans to ‘go for Heaths’ and so early one Sunday I drove up to meet with Philzoid and then onto Kent. So having never seen this species before I can’t comment on how well they’re doing or their emergence time this compared to...well any year.
A couple of things I did notice were that one they were so, so variable. At times I was questioning whether they were all the same species. Also they’ve moved on slightly. I was reliably informed that I’d only have to pull into the car park and there they would be. Only when I visited they weren’t and neither where they just along the path by the notice board. Things weren’t looking good until we found a couple in the first clearing. Finally in a newer clearing we came across almost a hundred all in one small area. This coming year I have my eye on a couple of other species so I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back to East Blean but I would love to...
Have a goodun
Wurzel
(woodland Dukes are darker than the grassland ones for example 
