Pearl-bordered Fritillary in the Wyre Forest

In the Wyre Forest we have used the colony sizes adopted by Matthew Oates in his monitoring of Pearl-bordered Fritillary in Cirencester Park Woods for any peak counts carried out away from the transects since 2002 (see graph).The graph shows there have been fewer medium and large colonies recently, not surprising given a transition in some key areas from planting conifers back to broadleaves (known as Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites or PAWS restoration) and the management of some long-term monitored sites for more varied wildlife benefits (which we totally support, of course). Nevertheless, the management of rides and other key areas by Natural England and Forestry England is doing a great job of maintaining Pearl-bordered Fritillary across the National Nature Reserve area and we expect the number of small colonies to rise well over 40 again in 2025. This should mean that the butterfly will be capable of quickly colonising suitable clear-felled or coppiced areas as they become available.

In 2025, Pearl-bordered Fritillary emerged before the bugle was in flower so it nectared on early flowers such as tormentil and dandelion, then many others all the way to the early bramble flowers.

Photos: Pearl-bordered Fritillary feeding on lousewort, bluebell and wood spurge