Rarely-Seen Essex Butterfly Spreads its Wings to Epping Forest Burial Park

It's been a good week for butterflies at our Essex park!  On Monday, our Woodland Manager Julia spotted a silver-washed fritillary while carrying out her weekly butterfly transect.

This large and impressive woodland butterfly, while relatively common in southern England, became extinct along with many other fritillaries in eastern England in the 1950s, as a result of habitat loss.

In recent years, partly due to reintroduction schemes, sliver-washed fritillaries have been recorded at a number of sites in Essex, including Hatfield Forest and Marks Hall in Coggeshall.

The species depends on oak trees and common dog violet in order to breed successfully, and flies in both open glades and more shady woodland areas.

In 2010 there were sightings in Fyfield, Epping Forest, Waltham Abbey and Mark Bushes / Latton Park on the southern border of Harlow District, so it would appear that the butterfly is beginning to spread from its main colonies.

It could be that Epping Forest Burial Park is forming a stepping stone site between the Fyfield and Harlow woodlands where silver-washed fritillaries have been recorded. The woodland management techniques that have been introduced at the park may be helping to provide a suitable habitat.

The sighting has been reported to the Essex Field Club, where lepidopterist recorder Robert Smith is plotting the county distribution of this handsome fritillary.