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| heath frit-01 | heath frit-02 | |
Heath Fritillary
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| heath frit-01 | heath frit-02 | |
A butterfly of coppiced woodland, the Heath Fritillary was known for "following the woodman" as each section of the wood was coppiced in annual succession, and cow wheat, it's principal larval foodplant flourished as the light streamed in. Now confined to a few sites in the south, in Essex, Kent, Devon and Cornwall, it is highly susceptible to changes in woodland management, and died out in one of it's two sites in Cornwall when it became overgrown. However, it is currently being re-introduced there, and has also been introduced to a wood in South Hertfordshire. These photographs were taken in Devon, on the Butterfly Conservation reserve at Lydford.