2017
TQ1450 : Marbled White butterfly, Denbies hillside
taken 7 years ago, near to Westcott, Surrey, England
Marbled White butterfly, Denbies hillside
Although this species - Melanargia galathea - is by no means rare, it is not often seen away from its traditional colonies. This colony on the scarp at Ranmore I have known since the 1980s. It has its good years and its lean years, but seemed to be doing pretty well in early July 2017.
From my own experience I can say that the Marbled White is to be met with at various downland sites across southern England - in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, and on the Berkshire Downs. The one colony I know of away from the chalk downs is in coastal grassland near Lower Hope Point, on the Kent side of the Thames Estuary. Finding the species there came as quite a surprise, and it still seems an interesting 'outlier'.
This page has been
viewed about
53 times