Glanville Fritillary Butterfly

The Glanville Fritillary Butterfly is only found on the coastal cliffs of the Isle of Wight. The Glanville Fritillary is found in other parts of Europe but the Isle of Wight is it's most northern range. A few weeks a go I came down to Compton Chine to briefly photograph the caterpillars and this week I took advantage of the warm weather and got back to Compton Bay to try and get some shots of the beautiful butterflies.


Unfortunately the only day I could get out with my camera it was windy and I am a little disappointed with the results as the previous days while I was at the beach with my two girls we saw a pair of butterflies mating and one that only just come out of its chrysalis.


I decided not to even try the macro lens as the butterflies were hardly landing at all and when they did, were swaying in the wind. The London Zoological Society are currently studying the butterflies and I was lucky to meet a lovely lady who explained that there was concern that with our more extreme weather and colder winters and wetter summers, they were worried that they may be in decline.


They were catching the butterflies in large nets and numbering them. I was amazed that you would be able to number a butterfly, but as you can see in the shot above they know which ones they have already caught and tagged because of the marks they make on the wings (I believe this one was number 114). Another worry is that if there are a lot of caterpillars (which you may think would be a good thing), there are often less butterflies as the caterpillars eat the same plant as the butterfly leaving little for them.


Shippards Chine and cliffs along Compton Bay are probably where you will find the highest concentration of the Glanville Fritillary on the Island. It is also my favourite place on the Island and where I have spent much of my life.


While scrabbling around on the cliff top and down some very sketchy cliff falls I was amazed at the amount of insects that shared this area. I couldn't help but think of my good friend Viv in Northern Ireland who has taken some amazing macro shots of insects and one of the best macro photographers I know. If you like your insects or Northern Ireland in general then you must check out her work by clicking the link here;

Vab Photography

The Glanville Fritillary Butterfly is very similar to the Heath Fritillary the upperside having orange or sandy-brown reticulate pattern, but its hindwing has a conspicuous arc of orange spots with dark centres. The Glanville Fritillary can been seen from May to the end of June but prefers warm days.


As I was walking back to the car I just spotted this Small Blue Butterfly land near to me and just managed this shot. I had been seeing Common Blues and Small Blue Butterflies all day but they didn't seem to land anywhere because of the strong breeze.