Across the country there are loads of lepidopterists who walk transects across pieces of land to record all the butterflies present at these locations. We have them to thank for a wealth of data on the distribution and statuses of the UK’s butterfly fauna but also for a number of interesting sightings. An example of the latter was an incredible sighting of no less than 3 male Queen of Spain Fritillaries lekking around a bonfire on a farm on the edge of Peacehaven, near Piddinghoe!
These exotic butterflies were first seen on the Saturday (26 August) by Dave Harris on his transect. It’s private land, however I am incredibly grateful to the farmer Colin Appleton for allowing access, as I was able to visit the site yesterday (29th).
Upon arrival at the location we could immediately tell that this was the place! There were quite a few naturalists spread out across the narrow meadow, searching for the fritillaries. It was about 2.15pm and they had not been seen since 12.45 – which was worrying – however there were still many other nice butterflies to look at while we searched.
Clouded Yellow – also a migrant butterfly however significantly more common!
Small Copper
Eventually, 30 minutes after arrival (not too bad considering we could have been waiting for a lot longer!), the keen eyes of Amy Robjohns spotted one fly in and land on the ground. It proceeded to sun itself for the next minute or so before moving to a separate patch of dry earth for a little while longer. Just the one – and it appeared to be much more elusive than on previous days. I would be surprised if any are seen again after today’s forecast bad weather.
The fritillary sunning itself
The only photo I got that shows the large white spots on the underside of the wings, characteristic of this species.
It may seem odd that 3 were seen at this same site together, for such a rare migrant. However, they are known to travel in groups, like some birds. However, once they had arrived at the farm, they turned hostile against each other, and used the aforementioned bonfire as a lekking site. Here they would fight against each other, and even drive away innocent butterflies of other species such as the Clouded Yellows and the Common Blues. A lek is used to attract the attention of females and for the females to choose a mate. No females have been seen (yet), however they are more elusive, so perhaps we could be seeing another generation of these exotic butterflies sometime soon.
Only Natural 