The Queen Comes To Kent

With news about a week ago of a Queen of Spain Fritillary butterfly being found in Kent, I couldn't help but think that it would be great to see such a butterfly in my home county. I remember many years ago as a child reading butterfly books and seeing pictures of the 'Queen of Spain Fritillary' and thinking, what an amazing name for a butterfly and such a lovely underwing. Being such a rare butterfly to our shores, I suppose I thought that I would stand little chance then of seeing this little stunner. Roll on a few days ago when Phil Smith refound the Fritillary in South Foreland Valley at Dover and yesterday morning (Friday), a tweet from Brendan Ryan who had also seen the Fritillary. I decided at that point that I had to make the effort to go and try to see this butterfly and after speaking to Brendan and getting some directions, I was excitedly on my way. Arriving c40 minutes later, I met Brendan who was leaving but kindly turned around and took me back to the area where the butterfly had been performing. By now it was cloudy and with no butterflies flying, we had to wait some time for the next sunny spell to arrive, which seemed ages. Eventually it appeared and all of a sudden, butterflies were again flying. Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Chalkhill Blue, Adonis Blue, Small Copper, Wall Brown, Peacock, Painted Lady were all enjoying the sun but no sign worryingly of the Queen of Spain Fritillary. Frank Cackett and Phil Smith turned up and with Brendan now leaving, we continued our search. For the best part of 2 hours I think, we searched all over the valley but no sign. I thought this was going to be our unlucky day when I decided to go and look at an area we had not searched through a kissing gate which looked quite sheltered. As I scanned the path, I could see what I initially thought was going to be a Comma but as I moved in nearer, I could see that I was the Queen of Spain Fritillary. The others were called and soon joined me where we spent the next hour taking a number of photos of this most attractive and rare butterfly which stayed loyal to this area thankfully. I had superb views of the underwing pattern but getting shots was pretty hard as it almost always had it wings open. With a few other locals arriving and a few shots obtained, I decided to call it a day and left happily for home. That's the amazing thing about this hobby. You can be sitting at home one minute and then the next, watching something you've never seen before. A truly brilliant afternoon and many thanks to Phil and Brendan for the directions to get to the site.

 

Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia)