Observations of the Queen of Spain Fritillary 1997

Observations on the Queen of Spain Fritillary 1997

by Richard Stewart (County Butterfly Recorder)

A minimum of 28 of these rare butterflies is an incredible total for Suffolk but it's not all straight forward, even if as the County Butterfly Recorder you get early information. John Dolman and I spent the best part of five hours near the end of October getting to know a particular field close to the Suffolk coast in great detail-but alas, no Queen of Spain F ritillaries, which had been seen there the day before. It was windy and there was little sunshine until the afternoon and not one butterfly was observed. Alan and Paul Johnson fared slightly better two days later, seeing a few butterflies but again not the rarity they wanted. In addition, even if you find them there may be problems ahead. On 18th September I was up very early after a report from Charlotte Anderson, one of the Minsmere wardens, about two Queen of Spain Fritillaries sighted by the two wardens at Wangford, as they passed along a footpath off the main road on their way to explore likely water vole sites-how's that for Biodiversity! The path ran alongside a field recently harvested but now full of 'weeds' i.e. nectar source for butterflies. I eventually found them, spiralling together and later had a much closer examination of one that settled close to me. A later distant glimpse was added before I walked back the short distance to the village hoping for a cup of coffee at the pub, which advertised itself as being open all day. This, on closer study, started at mid-day so instead I bought some biscuits and headed back, sitting down with my camera gear spread out in the hope of a close-up. The next thing I knew was seeing a tractor heading down the far lane beyond the large field, then turning right towards me still the hedge side of the field then suddenly coming through an unseen gap and starting to spray the field! With my chest problems, my gear all over the place, the length of the spraying apparatus and the speed it was heading for me, I regret that I opted for self-preservation and beat a hasty retreat, taking just one quick photo for posterity. Several of those I confided in during the next few days said it was, at that time of year, likely to be herbicide and the later records of the species not too far away gave me some comfort. Even so, two factors still perplex me-how many of these rarities are missed, since it was simply by chance that two wardens well used to the species happened to be passing that way. Second, I was probably the only person in the country, on that day, watching this rare butterfly-and that was the day selected to spray the field!