Fritillaries

Graylings & Skippers

Vanishing Butterflies of the Downlands

The Grayling and the Silver spotted skipper are two of our most enigmatic and rarest butterflies. They have suffered a sharp decline since the advent of industrial farming after the Second World War. Now they are rare and vanishing inexorably, often for reasons that are poorly understood. There are few places where the two species fly together any more and one of these is Windover hill in east Sussex.

Graylings are almost as rare. Tiny colonies exist in such places as Pamber Heath in Hampshire. Here in one corner of the heath they can be seen nectaring on purple bell heather in early August.

In most other locations it is one or the other species that can be seen. Skippers are found in tiny areas of habitat and one of their last strongholds is in Aston Rowant nature reserve in Oxfordshire. Here in August they can be seen flitting amongst the creeping thistles nectaring from the purple flowers on the steep south facing slopes.

They are an amazing site and have the ability to seemingly vanish at will when they land. Their cryptic colouration is a perfect match for the chalky patches they like to settle on in the heather. With their wings folded back to reduce the shadow they cast they can be almost impossible to detect. I have spent some happy hours trying to photograph them, often unsuccessfully.

On one occasion the butterfly I was trying to photograph flew up and landed on my back! When I turned against the sunlight I could see its shadow like a small fin on my back. These two species are among the few insects that I feel may have a personality of their own. See them while you can because they are vanishing fast.