The Pearl-bordered Fritillary - the woodman's friend

The Pearl-bordered Fritillary is a species that has always been associated with hazel woodlands that are regularly coppiced; it used to be called the ‘woodman’s friend’.

In the areas where the hazel has been recently cut, the woodland floor becomes carpeted for a year or two after the cutting with a spectacular array of flowers, including violets.

These are perfect for the fritillaries to lay their eggs on. However, in a couple of years these areas quickly get overgrown with bramble and the regrowth of the hazel which shade out the ground flora, so the Pearlbordered Fritillary must move on to the next area that has been cut.

	On acidic grassland where bracken grows, the shading provided by the bracken as it grows tall in May and June has the same effect as the leaf cover in a woodland. The violets growing there will sometimes support colonies of Pearlbordered and the closely related Small Pearlbordered Fritillary.

Sadly the practice of coppicing hazel woodlands is far less common now, and both these species of fritillaries are becoming much scarcer.

Click here to find out more about one of our largest woodland butterflies, The Silver-washed Fritillary