Butterfly Islands: Lesser,But No Less Delightful.

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Lesser,But No Less Delightful.

The spectacular beach of Chrissi Ammoudia, or Golden Beach as it is known to tourists on the North Aegean Island of Thassos,Greece is a three kilometre stretch of sand backed by a fertile plain and high hills and mountains.My first visit to this now popular holiday destination was in 1991 when the beach was devoid of loungers and umbrellas and many streams flowed across the reedy and olive grove farmland to the sea.A tourist explosion hit this extensive bay, leading to the development of the new holiday village of Scala Panagia at the northern end of the beach and the building of tourist apartments all along the bay inland of the beach.This was clear on my second visit in 2012,so I was ready for more of the same on this years trip.Thankfully building has not taken place near to the waters edge and therefore the dunes still separate the beach from the holiday apartments.

In these dunes can still be found butterflies and other insects and a good find this time was the small but lovely Lesser Spotted Fritillary.It is not as common as its larger relative,the Spotted Fritillary,but is no less colourful.The sexes are similar in size and colouration as they fly around low to the sand from seed head to seed head.

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The Adonis Blue

The Large Tortoiseshell

It seems the general view on the status of the Large Tortoiseshell in Britain is that it is now extinct as a breeding butterfly.
It is a butterfly of woodland edges and hedgerows that abound in willows,elms,and poplars.These trees are used by the adult to lay its eggs and this single brood appears in July and August.The emerging butterfly then hibernates over the winter in log piles and hollow trees until the next spring.
On the Isle of Wight sightings are more often than not made from early March to April.Have these butterflies overwintered on the Island or have they come from the continent where it is common?
Any sightings made in July/August pose the same question.Another explanation could be that captive-bred releases are responsible.Only the discovery of eggs and caterpillars will probably answer these questions.

I can now report that evidence has been found of breeding just along the coast at Portland in Dorset (June 2020) and again at the same location in the summer of 2021.

The Glanville Fritillary

This elegant butterfly is mainly confined to the crumbling undercliffs and chalk downs of the Isle of Wight.It is also found on the Channel Islands and at one or two isolated colonies on the British mainland.In Britain the Glanville Fritillary is at the extreme north-western edge of its range.On the continent it is readily found in flowery habitats.
Around the southern shores of the Isle of Wight the cliffs constantly erode causing them to slip away and provide perfect conditions for new growths of the butterflies laval host plant,Ribwort Plantain.
The eggs are laid to the underside of the leaves of this plant and normally hatch after about three weeks.The resulting caterpillars live together in communal webs spun over the plantain.In the autumn they hibernate and recommence feeding in the spring,eventually dispersing to prepare for pupation.
The adult butterfly is on the wing from May to the end of June with the female being larger than the male.They will feed on,amongst other things, Birds-foot Trefoil and Thrift.

The Wall Brown

On the Isle of Wight in particular,the Wall Brown is a butterfly of field edges,coastal cliffs and dunes,and rabbit-grazed downland.
The male is territorial and spends much of the time patrolling and basking on the ground.
The female,which lacks the males conspicuous dark sex brand across the forewings,is larger.The undersides of both sexes are beautifully cryptic when at rest.
The Wall Brown generally produces two broods a year,the first from late April until late June and the second from mid-July to mid-September.

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Lesser,But No Less Delightful.

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