A Marbled white surprise

24 Saturday Jul 2021

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British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Marbled white, Melanargia galathea

Considering the Marbled white butterfly (Melanargia galathea) thrives in tall grasses, growing in calcareous unimproved grasslands, in woodland clearings and rides, in disused quarries and roadside verges, I always expect to find them in my part of south Wales. But they are rare here, my very occasional sightings consisting of rapid fly-bys and distant record-only photos like the one below.

210724 marbled white (1)

So, getting close views of this beauty during my trip to Slade Woods last week was a lovely surprise, not from within the woodland itself, but rather at the edge of a farmland footpath on my way back to the train.

210724 marbled white (2)

Though it may seem difficult to believe when you look at its colouring, the Marbled white butterfly is a member of the ‘brown’ group of butterflies that also includes those that are recognisably brown (Speckled wood, Meadow brown, Ringlet, etc).

180/365 Butterflying in Somerset, part II

29 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, wildflowers

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British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, butterflying, Collard Hill, Large blue, Large blue butterfly, Marbled white, Wild thyme

Scenario: Three friends go seeking rare butterflies across the border in England.

190629 Collard Hill view

Second location: Collard Hill, in Somerset. A hot walk up the steep hill for more incredible views across picturesque Somerset. And we weren’t far from the legendary Glastonbury Tor.

190629 Glastonbury Tor

Support act: Marbled white. My first sightings of these little beauties for the year, and we saw several flitting back and forth above the long grass.

190629 marbled white

Star attraction: Large blue. Incredibly, this butterfly was declared extinct in Britain in the 1970s but was reintroduced from Sweden to Green Down, a Somerset Wildlife Trust site, in 1992. Since then the butterflies have mostly thrived (though they are affected by weather, habitat and ant conditions – for more on that, check out the National Trust Large blue blog) and they’ve been reintroduced to several other areas, including this site at Collard Hill.

190629 large blue (2)

During our visit, it was very windy at the top and very hot in the lee of the hill, not ideal conditions for seeing the butterflies but, after following the animal tracks back and forth across the hillside, we finally had good sightings of three Large blues on their favourite food plant, Wild thyme. One female was even ovipositing, which bodes well for the coming years.

190629 large blue (3)

It was amazing to see both these Large blues and, earlier in the day, the Heath fritillaries, both lifers for me, and I want to say a huge thank you to Gareth and Alan for letting me join their butterflying expedition. It was a truly magical day!

190629 large blue (4)

Marbled whites

21 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Arlington Reservoir, British butterflies, butterflies, Half-mourner, Marbled white, Marmoress, Melanargia galathea, West Park Local Nature Reserve, Woods Mill Nature Reserve

The week before I went down to visit my friend Jill in East Sussex I thought I spotted a Marbled white butterfly at Lavernock Nature Reserve but it flew off before I could get close and I couldn’t find it again.

180721 Marbled white at Arlington

In Sussex, a Marbled white (Melanargia galathea) was the first of seven new species of butterfly I saw in just seven days, and I managed to see three of them at three different places. The first was at Arlington Reservoir, the second at Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Woods Mill Reserve, and the third was at West Park Local Nature Reserve near Uckfield.

180721 Marbled white at Woods Mill

According to Patrick Coulder’s book A Natural History of the Cuckmere Valley:

… 200 years ago, this butterfly was known as the half-mourner, because women then wore black and white dresses during the period of ‘half-mourning’ which followed full mourning for a dead relative. Its name then changed to marmoress, meaning ‘marble-like’, and finally about a hundred years ago it became known as the marbled white.

180721 Marbled white at West Park