Pete's Walks - Queen of Spain Fritillary
Photo taken 10/08/26 at Monk Sherborne, Hampshire
I went down to Hampshire in August 2026 to see this butterfly, after spending a day in Kent the previous summer on an unsuccessful hunt for it. It's the first species of butterfly that I've seen that is not one of the 59 breeding species of butterfly in Great Britain (there is a 60th species, the Cryptic Wood White, that can be seen in Northern Ireland). Small numbers of Queen of Spain Fritillaries are seen here every year, but the long series of heatwaves in 2026 attracted far more than usual (the same was true of other migrant species, including Painted Lady, Clouded Yellow and the Hummingbird Hawkmoth). The other migrant species of butterfly that I hope to see sometime are the Long-tailed Blue, the Camberwell Beauty and the Large Copper.
Photo taken 10/08/26 at Monk Sherborne, Hampshire
Photo taken 10/08/26 at Monk Sherborne, Hampshire
Photo taken 10/08/26 at Monk Sherborne, Hampshire
Photo taken 10/08/26 at Monk Sherborne, Hampshire