Tuesday 16 July 2013

Butterflies at Cabilla Wood

Male Silver washed Fritillary



The summer sunshine had brought the butterflies out today at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserve at Cabilla near Bodmin.


Male Silver washed Fritillary 

We also spotted a possible different form of the Silver washed Fritillary, known as f.valezina, a darker and slightly green tinged female. (this needs to be confirmed as it is not known to be present in Cornwall!).


Silver washed Fritillary. f.valezina?  
Comma showing some mite infestation on the fore wing.

Large skipper

3 comments:

Andrew Carey said...

That looks like f. valezina to me Adrian. Great find.

Adrian Langdon said...

Thanks Andrew, Just had it confirmed as probably the second ever record for Cornwall.
Pure fluke on my part but as soon as I saw it I knew I didn't recognise it!

lee3764 said...

Oh yes...........superb indeed. The wonderful female form 'valezina' which is restricted (or was) to Sussex, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset & parts of Somerset.......and now Cornwall! With this superb weather we need to look & try & find if 'valezina' actually exists elsewhere in Cornwall. It must be in the genes at Cabilla Wood so should be elsewhere too! Well done Adrian.
Cheers,
Lee Slaughter (Cornwall Butterfly Conservation).