Post by nomad on Jun 26, 2017 15:20:58 GMT
"I remember an afternoon in Savernake Forest when, following some hours of cloud, the sun at last broke forth and the High Brown Fritillaries came floating down in numbers from the Oak trees around me.” E.B. Ford, Butterflies 1945.
The High Brown Fritillary, Argynnis adippe is a frequent species in most of Europe but in Britain it is an endangered and "protected" butterfly. From the 1950s onwards there was a huge decline of this species in the woodlands of England and Wales. There were changes in the traditional management of our woodlands, such as a cessation of coppicing and the widespread planting of conifers. In Southern England only on a few bracken covered slopes in Devon did the butterfly hang on, and here only active and constant conservation methods, creating small clearings in the bracken where the foodplant violets can grow, have ensured its rather fragile survival there. Most colonies were lost and today only one small population remains in Wales. The bastion of Argynnis adippe remains a few limestone hills in North-west England.
On the very steep bracken covered slopes of Devon, A. adippe flies with the two other large fritillaries Argynnis paphia and Argynnis aglaja. The main nectar source here for A. adippe is Marsh Thistle, Cirsium palustre and to a lesser degree Bramble, rubus species. As clouds moved in, we watched as the butterflies left the bracken covered slopes and ascended into the nearby Oak trees to rest and then as Ford noted to descend once more as the sun appeared. All images Devon, June 2017.
Argynnis adippe males.
]
Argynnis adippe females.
The Habitat of Argynnis adippe.
Argynnis paphia.
Vanessa atalanta joins the Fritillaries.
The High Brown Fritillary, Argynnis adippe is a frequent species in most of Europe but in Britain it is an endangered and "protected" butterfly. From the 1950s onwards there was a huge decline of this species in the woodlands of England and Wales. There were changes in the traditional management of our woodlands, such as a cessation of coppicing and the widespread planting of conifers. In Southern England only on a few bracken covered slopes in Devon did the butterfly hang on, and here only active and constant conservation methods, creating small clearings in the bracken where the foodplant violets can grow, have ensured its rather fragile survival there. Most colonies were lost and today only one small population remains in Wales. The bastion of Argynnis adippe remains a few limestone hills in North-west England.
On the very steep bracken covered slopes of Devon, A. adippe flies with the two other large fritillaries Argynnis paphia and Argynnis aglaja. The main nectar source here for A. adippe is Marsh Thistle, Cirsium palustre and to a lesser degree Bramble, rubus species. As clouds moved in, we watched as the butterflies left the bracken covered slopes and ascended into the nearby Oak trees to rest and then as Ford noted to descend once more as the sun appeared. All images Devon, June 2017.
Argynnis adippe males.
]Argynnis adippe females.
The Habitat of Argynnis adippe.
Argynnis paphia.
Vanessa atalanta joins the Fritillaries.
