Tag Archives: fritillary

Marsh fritillaries

29 Saturday May 2021

Posted by in insects

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Having lucked out last week, I was over the moon during this week’s visit to Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR to see my first Marsh fritillaries of the year.

210529 marsh fritillary (1)

Perhaps it was the company of my friend Sharon that brought me luck (it was our first meeting in almost nine months).

210529 marsh fritillary (2)

And, no doubt, bumping in to the ranger on site really helped, as he pointed out which field he’d just seen half a dozen butterflies in (the main field where they’re usually seen is still very waterlogged).

210529 marsh fritillary (3)

The day of our visit was the first really sunny day in a while, and, as most of the fritillaries were sitting quietly amongst the tussocks and clumps of grass, soaking up the sunshine and flexing their wings, I got the feeling that many had only just emerged from their pupae.

210529 marsh fritillary (4)

We saw nine Marsh fritillaries in total – I’m sure there were more we missed. They are such stunning creatures that I’m already planning a return visit.

210529 marsh fritillary (5)

Foreign-looking fritillaries

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by in nature, wildflowers

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And then I came to a field where the springing grass
Was dulled by the hanging cups of fritillaries,
Sullen and foreign-looking, the snaky flower,
Scarfed in dull purple, like Egyptian girls
~ from Vita Sackville West, The Land, 1926

Vita was writing about the Snake’s head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris), also known by a multitude of other common names, including chequered daffodil, chess flower, frog-cup, guinea-hen flower, Lazarus bell, chequered lily, drooping tulip, and leper lily (because its shape resembles the bell once carried by lepers).

fritillary (5)

Perhaps that association with lepers is why the fritillary is considered by some to be a little sinister. Sackville West certainly wrote negatively of it in The Land and, according to the Poison Garden website, she declared the fritillary to be ‘a sinister little flower, in the mournful colour of decay’. I certainly can’t agree with Vita’s negative opinion of this most unusual of flowers, as I find the combination of unusual chequered pattern, delicate elegance and soft magenta colouring simply stunning.